Sunday

8.3 out of 10 based on 23 ratings

187 comments to Sunday

  • #
    Ted1

    How long is a rubber band?

    I have been thinking about our difference where I declared that science justifies itself and somebody else thought it better remaining hidden.

    My assumption is that if it is science it will eventually be discovered anyway, and when that happens it will be better to be on the leading end of the job than the receiving end.

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  • #
    tonyb

    Very good article from a UK visitor perspective of the similarities of the OZ YES23 campaign and Brexit.

    It seems that respective governments and powerful groups were reluctant to accept the NO vote in either case. Due to time, Brexit has largely moved on but YES 23 seems to be gaining momentum and groups look like getting their way despite the peoples vote

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/resetting-the-great-reset-down-under/

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      Labor goes full steam ahead on track for political fiasco

      DENNIS SHANAHAN

      As it did with the Indigenous voice referendum, the Albanese government is drifting towards a catastrophic failure – this time over its blind commitment to an accelerated net-zero carbon emissions economy, which has been central to every major decision being taken within months of an election.

      Labor is consumed with a take-it-or-leave-it belief in the implementation of a renewables-only energy policy as the underpinning of a caring and inclusive economy and the creation of Australia as a global renewables superpower.

      As was the case with the voice referendum, the Labor government is absorbed with what it believes to be a central truth, an indisputable outcome and an economic solution to the various cost crises facing Australians. It is dismissive and antagonistic towards opponents and supported by an elite of rich corporations, financiers, academics and interest groups.

      And, as in the referendum debate, Labor is refusing to provide pertinent detail on potential impacts or offer any sign of compromise or consideration of alternatives. Again, the government is proving deaf to significant and justifiable doubts from business, industry and voters over genuine concerns at a time of global change and anxiety.

      There is a real danger, and growing evidence, that the government is turning the issues of renewable energy and nuclear power from being what it believed would be negatives for Peter Dutton into positives for the Coalition.

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      • #
        Forrest Gardener

        I would make one simple change in Shanahan’s piece. Replace the word “renewable” with the more accurate word “intermittent”.

        The big push is to replace reliable energy sources with intermittent energy sources. The zealots are so twisted in their quest for intermittent energy that they are even opposed to nuclear.

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        • #
          OldOzzie

          The Home-Based Battery Storage Fantasy

          By Jonathan Lesser

          According to a recent article published in The Conversation, installing millions of storage batteries distributed through the grid — in homes, businesses, and local communities – coupled with wind and solar generation, can avoid investments in new transmission infrastructure.

          But unless installing those batteries is accompanied by physically disconnecting from the grid, or consumers are willing to forgo reliable electricity, this claim is yet another example of electricity “magical thinking.”

          Electricity customers, both residential and industrial, need to be aware of this home-based battery storage fantasy.

          First, batteries store electricity; they don’t generate it. But the move towards electrifying the U.S. motor vehicle fleet, along with electrifying space and water heating, will double electricity consumption. Although some of the additional electricity needed may come from distributed sources such as rooftop solar, green energy advocates claim that most of the needed electricity will be generated at large-scale wind and solar facilities located far from cities and towns.

          The article also claims, “[w]e could get by with fewer transmission lines if we store more solar and wind power for later.” But delivering the additional electricity needed will require building new transmission lines, regardless of how much battery storage is installed in homes and in local communities. Moreover, local distribution systems—the poles and wires running down streets—will also have to be upgraded to handle the additional loads.

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  • #
    tonyb

    The nonsense of holding COP29 in Baku are shown every day. Most western countries should surely not be there if Human rights and climate change and Russian oil and gas sanctions are actually meaningful stances. However all is not what it appears, there is quite a background.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/cop29-reveals-itself-as-the-great-fraud-it-always-was/

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    • #
      David of Cooyal in Oz

      This paragraph from your link is telling:

      ” Instead, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen flew to Baku, hailing the country as ‘a crucial energy partner’. The reason became obvious when the Financial Times and Sunday Times reported Azerbaijan had increased imports of Russian gas specifically to meet commitments made to EU countries looking for ‘non-Russian’ sources of gas in the wake of the Ukraine invasion. For many the sanctions were a pretence all along. ”

      Thanks Tony.

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Gor blimey Mrs Jones,
      how’s your Bert’s lumbago…

      ‘Storm Bert’ in the UK has literally dumped 40cm of never-to-be-seen-again snow over the Scottish Highlands, allowing ski field operators to open earlier than planned – once they dig themselves out of the Viner Syndrome Fallout (VSF) burying the hills.

      Got to love nature’s sense of humour. ⛄️

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      • #
        MrGrimNasty

        The weather changes very rapidly. Most of the snow that fell has been washed away by rain already, except the very highest peaks. There’s not a single place in the UK below freezing at the moment, including the Scottish summits.

        17/18C possible in SE tomorrow.

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        • #
          Greg in NZ

          Oh no, not a heatwave!

          It’s only autumn, snow comes & snow goes – enjoy the mild reprieve – the Viner Curse shall return yet again…

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      • #

        Is this unprecedented snow
        as in unprecedented globul warming?

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        • #
          el+gordo

          Highly unusual but not unprecedented.

          ‘Strong Greenland blocking is bringing an early taste of winter with cold and snow to Europe. Not one but two stretched polar vortices are predicted in the next two weeks and they will tag team to finally bring some cold air to the US, strongest in the Northern Plains but making it all the way to the East Coast and even some snow. But longer term the circulation and the strong polar vortex favor a milder pattern.’ (Judah Cohen)

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    • #
      Jon Rattin

      The article Tony posted didn’t mention how many delegates Australia sent to COP OUT29. Readers will be pleased to know we scraped into the top 20 with 394 delegates attending, which is only 11 behind the USA. Despite our smaller population, we fight above our weight when it comes to servicing climate quackery.
      https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-which-countries-have-sent-the-most-delegates-to-cop29/

      *Theres also a graph in this link that shows the rapid increase in attendance numbers since COP OUT1

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    • #
  • #
    tonyb

    Looks like Northvolt the Giant Swedish electric vehicle battery maker has gone bust.

    https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/11/green-darling-northvolt-with-e5-62-billion-in-debt-seeks-bankruptcy-protection-as-ceo-quits/

    Nothing to do with trying to make non sustainable electric batteries using sustainable green energy-hydropwer-of course.

    In the meantime EV’s and their Chinese made batteries using coerced labour and coal power, threaten to undermine Traditional European car makers

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    • #
      MeAgain

      While PNG were staying home from COP, they were opening their first MG electric car dealership: https://www.postcourier.com.pg/niugini-automobiles-first-electric-car-dealer-in-png/

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      • #
        Gob

        Would it be that the Niugini Maserati Fiasco at the time of the 2018 APEC summit has provided inspiration for this venture? At least they’re not talking hydrogen or renewables superpowers yet but one can sense it’s not too far away.

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      • #
        Ronin

        With their roads and lack of infrastructure, it would be the dumbest thing you could waste money on.

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    • #
      KP

      “Chinese made batteries using coerced labour”

      Is Chinese coerced labour like Australian non-compulsory vaccinations?

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      Goldman Sachs takes $900mn hit on Northvolt investment

      US bank is second-largest shareholder in Swedish battery maker which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week

      Funds managed by Goldman Sachs will write off almost $900mn after Swedish battery maker Northvolt filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. 

      Goldman’s private equity funds have at least $896mn in exposure to Northvolt, making the US bank its second-largest shareholder. They will write that down to zero at the end of the year, according to letters to investors seen by the Financial Times.

      The losses mark a sharp contrast to a bullish prediction just seven months ago by one of the Goldman funds, which told investors that its investment in Northvolt was worth 4.29 times what it had paid for it, and that this would increase to six times by next year.

      Goldman said in a statement: “While we are one of many investors disappointed by this outcome, this was a minority investment through highly diversified funds. Our portfolios have concentration limits to mitigate risks.”

      Goldman first invested in Northvolt in 2019 when, along with other investors including German carmaker Volkswagen, it led a $1bn Series B funding round that enabled Northvolt to build its first factory in northern Sweden, and fuel future expansion. 

      The funding round was hailed by Northvolt chief executive Peter Carlsson as “a great milestone for Northvolt” — then a four-year old start-up — and “a key moment for Europe” in its push to counter Asian dominance of battery making.

      But Europe’s one-time big battery hope filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US on Thursday and Carlsson resigned the following day, warning European politicians, companies and investors not to get cold feet on the green transition.

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      • #
        OldOzzie

        ‘There was so much promise’: How Northvolt tumbled into bankruptcy

        Battery champion became a symbol of Europe’s ambitions and then its failings on its way to Chapter 11 proceedings

        A desire for global domination, intense hubris and disagreements, vast amounts of cash and several unexplained deaths: the Swedish start-up has had it all on its journey to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday.

        Founded in 2016 with the promise of loosening the stranglehold of Asian companies on battery manufacturing, Northvolt became the symbol first of Europe’s ambitions, and then its failings to find a place in the green transition against the massive subsidies of China and President Joe Biden’s US.

        Northvolt was started by Carlsson and fellow ex-Tesla executive Paolo Cerruti with the premise of using the Nordic region’s abundant and cheap green energy to challenge the likes of China’s CATL and BYD in batteries

        A combination of factors had added up to big delays, according to Carlsson.

        These included bringing in thousands of new workers from more than 100 different nationalities, getting new processes right, the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the construction phase, and being the first western customers of Chinese and Korean equipment makers.

        The machinery worked, but needed continual support from Asia, leading to communication difficulties with Northvolt workers.

        A person close to Northvolt said Skellefteå’s remote location became a problem. “It’s not easy to attract the right people here. In ramp-ups, it’s normally easy to steal talent from nearby companies. That’s not the case here.

        Shareholders have little good to say — either about Northvolt’s management or each other. “Think of the billions of euros that Northvolt has received,” said one. “It’s not just a question of money, but what do I do with the money and how do I make sure I don’t run out of it.”

        Others lashed out at Volkswagen and Goldman Sachs, the two biggest shareholders with 21 and 19 per cent stakes respectively.

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      • #
        TdeF

        I can safely predict Australia will take a $1000 Million hit on our absurd ‘investment’ in a California company pushing ‘Quantum computing’. Just when IBM and everyone else is getting out. There’s a mug born every day. What on earth is the Australian Prime Minister doing throwing away our money on his particular area of zero expertise or capacity to understand, quantum computing?

        I suppose he and Bowen and Chalmers can just get more truck loads of other people’s money from the Future Fund. We Australians are being robbed in broad daylight. We have a pack of thieves in the Treasury and people’s savings.

        And he is pushing Green solar panel manufacture in the Hunter Valley when a twentieth of that money would have saved our only Windmill manufacturer and kept all those Green jobs and windmill cash in Australia for Australians.

        We are either being ruled by an idiot or more like a team of idiots. Or there is a genuine attempt to bankrupt Australia with their mad Climate excuse. It makes Turnbull’s stolen $444 seem trivial theft. Or Gillard’s total $100Bn waste on principal and interest payments to French companies for five desalination plants, three of which were never turned on. For the millenium Climate Change drought which would never end. ‘Even the rains which fall would not fill the dams.’ Which are now full.

        And a pumped storage system in a fragile National Park. A system which makes no economic sense and now North of $20Bn.

        Australia qualifies for the largest failed projects in modern history in the modern world. But of course all that lovely cash does not vanish. What is going on?

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  • #
    MeAgain

    DFAT used the cover of the pandemic to draft a new ‘Kokoda Track Management Authority Act‘ which disenfranchises customary landowners from membership of a new Board; extends the gazetted boundaries of the Kokoda Trail to include Sirinumu Dam on the south coast, a large chunk of the Owen Stanley Ranges in the centre and the beach-head areas on the north coast. It will ensure that PNGs most popular tourism destination, i.e., the Kokoda Trail, is managed as an environmental resource for the benefit of aid-funded officials and consultants in the areas of anthropology, archeology and other forms of social-engineering rather than as a tourism resource on a commercial basis for the benefit of landowner communities across the Trail. https://blog.kokodatreks.com/2024/05/13/the-kokoda-trail-chronology-of-mismanagement-2009-2019/

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  • #
    Reader

    ‘Betraying us!’ Defence schemes spark outrage for importing ‘woke’ eco-friendly steel rather than buying British
    https://www.gbnews.com/politics/woke-madness-defence-steel-imports-richard-tice

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    • #

      Whatever happened to Sheffield Steel and stainless steel? Not even mentioned in that article.

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      • #
        Nezysquared

        Sadly all gone. The movie The Full Monty gave a pretty accurate picture of the hollowing out of the steel industry in Sheffield. In my early days in engineering driving through Sheffield in the mid 70’s the cutlery industry was a hive of activity. Returning there 5 years ago the workshops are empty and the entrances blocked by weeds. Very sad but the same happened here in Australia. When I came here in the late 80’s and worked in Wollongong on the Port Kembla steel facility there were (I think) some 26000+ people involved in the production of steel including stainless steel. I worked on a test facility for producing stainless steel coil from the molten product in a single process. That IP was eventually sold to China for virtually nothing and just like the UK, we no longer produce steel here in Australia. I’ve worked in the oil and gas industry in Perth now for over 25 years and all steel for our NW shelf facilities is imported. The planned destruction of all local manufacturing here by various governments has left the next generation of Australians with little option but to work in the retic aisle at Bunnings. The same can also be said of the intellectual end of the engineering industry where most of the design work is mandated by clients to be undertaken in places like India, China and other Asian “low cost” centres in the fruitless search for cost savings and efficiency. After over a quarter of a century of overseeing some of these initiatives I have yet to see anything resembling success. I’ll step down from my soap box now and retire to private life….

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        • #
          KP

          “’ll step down from my soap box now and retire to private life….”

          But you have just described the role of any country since the industrial revolution. They start off as a low-tech backwater outside the main pool of industrialised countries, they leverage their cheap labour to make widgets for other countries, they grow a middle class and move into the service industries internally, and then they lose their high-paid factory jobs to the next backwater country.

          Japan since WW2 would be classic example.

          They finally end up like the UK, passing bits of paper around and investing the capital built up in their industrial period, until they become Spain or Portugal, were once world Empires, now retired old cat ladies.

          Australian labour is too expensive to produce anything against China, Vietnam, Indonesia etc and we don’t have the capital base nor the population base to run robotised gigafactories making cars or trains or planes. We will continue to export minerals and food, and the profits will swirl around inside the country keeping everyone in genteel poverty. Look for currency controls in the future..

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          • #
            OldOzzie

            Lithgow Small Arms Factory

            The Lithgow Small Arms Factory was established in 1912 in Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia, as a response to the Australian Government’s desire to reduce reliance on British suppliers for defense materials. Initially, the factory produced SMLE III rifles and Pattern 1907 bayonets for the Australian military during World War I.

            Expansion and Diversification

            During World War II, production expanded to include Vickers machine guns, Bren guns, and later, sporting goods, tools, sewing machines, and other civilian products. In the post-war period, the factory continued to diversify, producing the F1 submachine gun, L1A1 SLR, KAL1 general-purpose infantry rifle prototypes, and other military and civilian firearms.

            Legacy and Museum

            Today, the Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum showcases the industrial heritage of Australia and the finest firearms display in the Southern Hemisphere. The museum is located on the original Commonwealth Small Arms Factory site and features a fascinating collection of exhibits, including commercial products manufactured by the factory during its struggles to stay viable between the wars.

            Current Status

            Lithgow Arms, the current owner and operator of the factory, is an Australian small arms manufacturer that has continued to produce high-quality sporting rifles and other firearms. The company has also expanded into new products and collaborations, such as its partnership with Spika Pty Ltd to strengthen and grow its sporting shooters and manufacturing capabilities.

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          • #
            el+gordo

            Japan was the first cab off the rank in 1945, the bubble later moved to South Korea and then China followed by Vietnam.

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          • #
            Mike

            Australian labour is too expensive to produce anything against China, Vietnam, Indonesia etc
            Total agree with your vision kp
            Enjoy the time left you’ve got left on the planet.
            Enjoy your happy vision of our recent prosperity.

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        • #

          Yes, and Bluescope Steel in the ‘Gong will struggle with China exporting over 100 million tons of steel a year. Bluescope only produces 3 million tons a year and has to compete with cheap Chinese steel. Maybe Australia should have some selective tariffs?

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          • #
            Philip

            Im generally opposed to tariffs, but when it comes to steel making, it is an industry you need should you have to go to war with the people selling it to you so it needs to be protected. The unions should understand this too to make it viable, but well, they’re unions so…

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          • #
            KP

            “Maybe Australia should have some selective tariffs?”

            No, you need to look at what we are selling the Chinese to be able to buy the steel. If they sanction steel exports to us it just starts a trade war where we build out of wood and they starve. International trade is the best way to make peace, tariffs just prop up old dinosaurs who make stuff very poorly, and sanctions just isolate a country so it becomes more self-sufficient.

            Singapore and Japan have done very well without local resources. We should have stopped wasting resources on under-performing kids in schools and put that money into pushing the brightest as hard as possible. Imagine if SpaceX had started in Australia!

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            • #
              el+gordo

              Donald seems to think tariffs aren’t so bad if it rejuvenates local production, bringing the jobs back home.

              Europe is in an uproar because China is dumping cheap steel on them.

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              • #
                Philip

                imo europe needs to compete with China, reduce costs, wages and energy, taxes. But still trade. I agree with KP, Im a free trader, at the end of most arguments.

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              • #
                el+gordo

                Trouble with China is that they still have slave labour entrenched in the workforce across the whole economy, we are too civilised to compete, so I’m a tariff man.

                Free Trade or Protection is a big issue going forward.

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            • #

              So, it’s OK for China to break the World Trade Rules and stop us exporting Wine, Barley and Lobsters to them but we are not allowed to place tariffs on steel? Give me a break.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      Australia is just as stoopid. With sanctions on Russia there is a shortage of cold rolled steel.

      What is unique about cold rolled is that it must be from new steel, not recycled, and Russia had the raw materials to supply it. It is the clean shiny steel that is pressed into car, fridge and washer panels. The West is very much into recycling which is great for heavy stuff.

      Waddyano! Aus has plenty of raw materials but we are committed to deindustrialising.

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  • #
    Kalm Keith

    As Ted says:

    “if it is science it will eventually be discovered anyway”.

    While driving, and listening to my favorite radio station, their ABCCC, I was informed that the COP29 in BAKU was almost over and the most important detail had not been resolved.

    The central issue of how much money would be given by the rich western nations to the poor climate endangered peoples living almost at sea level was still undecided.

    The Climate Endangered nations wanted one point two Trillion US dollars and the offer of two hundred and fifty million wasn’t anywhere near the mark.

    The science wasn’t the issue because everyone “knows” that the rise in CO2 has caused 1.5 C degrees rise in world temperature since 1850.

    Albo and his Turkish counterpart are said to be fighting over who will host COP10. Roll on 2026, there’s a great spot out in central Australia where a world famous rock would give a great background to next COP.

    But please, no truth telling.

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Keith, our version of your ABCCC ran this comedic tell-all gibberish yesterday:

      COUP29 “was supposed to focus on money, who is going to pay to help those most effected [sic] by rising seas, more ferocious storms, shifting weather patterns”.

      Money money money… damn the science (observed versus projected), damn the proofreaders & editorial staff (‘AI’?), it’s all about the money, and the parties, and the chance to do it all again next year… hopefully somewhere above sea level.

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Yes Greg,

        it’s worldwide, and never a word about the truth.

        Apart from the fact that CO2 is quantitatively irrelevant in the atmosphere as far as heat capacity goes, there’s still the hidden, unspeakable, basic science that refutes the concept of CO2 “heating”.

        But! All scientists from atomic physicists, thermodynamic experts, atmospheric experts and true modelling engineers have been silenced.

        Do not speak the true science; or else!

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        • #
          el+gordo

          We have a small problem in convincing anyone that CO2 doesn’t cause global warming.

          https://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_October_2024_v6.1_20x9-scaled.jpg

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          • #
            Greg in NZ

            EG, that’s a minor ‘blip’, and a most welcome up-tick from the 1970s climactic scare/threat of ‘Next Ice Age Imminent?’

            Zoom out 12,000 years or more, a la Jo’s Holocene temp graph, and we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel, or, in today’s parlance, at the tipping point where we fall off the edge and plummet down… maybe.

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          • #
            GlenM

            Didn’t notice the .75C rise up here in the tropical zone. Humidity is pretty torrid and no rain as such.

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          • #
            Strop

            Show them the chart of the first half of the 20th century where there was significant warming from 1910 to 40’s when there was not an equivalent significant increase in C02.
            Or the chart of cooling from 1950 ish to the late 70’s when CO2 could have had an influence.
            According to those favouring CO2 as the cause of warming say this cooling was from the use of chlorofluorocarbons.
            Then those same people say the rate of warming post late 70’s is what shows CO2 is the cause because it’s a rate higher than other periods. But CFC suppression of warming could mean catchup in warming was going to occur. So maybe a higher natural rate of warming is expected and it’s not CO2.

            Basically, if you’re a criminal defendant you wouldn’t want the jury who decided its CO2 to be your trial jury.

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          • #
            TdeF

            Why not the conclusion that warming produces increased CO2? Isn’t that the obvious simple conclusion which everyone understands?

            There is no fossil fuel CO2 in the air. It’s under 3%. It was 2.03% in 1958 after two world wars and pretty much the same today. The idea that CO2 built up in the atmosphere was busted as a theory in 1958 by Graham Fergusson and published by the Royal Society.

            G. J. Fergusson

            The CO2 in the air is just the vapour pressure of a dissolved gas. And 98% of all CO2 is in the water. Just heat it slightly.

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            • #
              TdeF

              The whole idea is that we humans control CO2. And we dont’.

              Have a look at CO2 vs time. See if you can spot any human input?

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              • #
                TdeF

                And I would point out that, apart from the last strange year, the temperature in 2023 was the same as in 1980. And what phenomenon which has been changing steadily for 250 years makes a sudden jump for higher temperatures in just one year? The idea that steadily changing CO2 at 0.4% a year causes these sudden world changes is unlikely. The whole idea that a single ‘world’ temperature is meaningful has never been proven. It may be meaningless. One half of the world could be warming and the other half cooling. For completely different reasons. We are ripping our society apart on wild conjecture by politicians. The only thing clear is all the cash.

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              • #
                el+gordo

                ‘ … a sudden jump for higher temperatures in just one year?’

                Obviously caused by extra water vapour in the Stratosphere.

                ‘One half of the world could be warming and the other half cooling.’

                A bipolar seesaw is related to the collapse of the AMOC.

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            • #
              el+gordo

              ‘Why not the conclusion that warming produces increased CO2?’

              Its the only rational explanation, but they’ll say why is the planet warming if not CO2?

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              • #
                TdeF

                What a silly statement. If not CO2. That’s not an argument. Why CO2?

                The two biggest forces in planetary surface temperature are solar intensity and ocean surface temperature.

                The idea that a small very slow linear increase in tiny CO2 has a significant effect is just fantasy.

                Which is why even the BOM is scared of La Nina. And their prediction for last summer was as wrong as it was possible to be. They cannot predict it.

                Atmospheric temperature at surface level, all weather, all water, all storms comes from the oceans and the sun. 99.9% of the heat on the surface is stored in the oceans at 1400x the heat capacity of the thin air which cools every night. Hot air expands dramatically and rises and cools. Not far up it’s -60C. Warm, never very hot water does not expand much so it does not rise. Only the surface can cool by radiation. So the heat is trapped and escapes only by evaporation, as in the Carribean, creating hurricanes as the hot, wet air expands into huge storms. Or the North Atlantic gyre, the Gulf Stream takes the heat away at 9km/hr to Europe.

                It is ridiculous to blame CO2 for changing climate and pretending that solar cycles and ocean currents are not relevant. And nothing is collapsing? That also absurd. I read the Gulf Stream is collapsing. It can’t. It’s driven by centripetal force as the planet rotates at 1000km/hr. And the huge AMO/PDO cycle controls nearly all the weather. What we see as the weather is utterly dependent on them. Except no one models the current or can predict them. Why not CO2? That’s silly.

                Besides, CO2 is near constant one year to the next, pole to pole and yet we are to believe a steady 0.4% change in total CO2 produces big jumps up and down in temperature? And that the CO2 is man made, man controlled. After all this time, neither statement is even proven, just wild conjecture by politicians.

                CO2 is an effect of warming, not a cause. To make it a cause you have to ignore everything else. This explanation was great for Al Gore in 1988. And 36 years later, the argument is why not CO2? Because it’s obviously not true. And we cannot control and do not control CO2. It is in equilibrium.

                The sky is falling? And our fault? That’s superstition, with any sign of rational science.

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                That’s a good outline TdeF.
                Well worth reading,

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              • #
                el+gordo

                ‘That’s not an argument.’

                When it comes to climate change the people have been told a big lie, we have to find a way to communicate the fact that natural variables rule and CO2 has no part to play.

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      • #
        GlenM

        An old Pacific Island story goes on about people in grass houses should not stow thrones.

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  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos Pour Millions into a ‘Climate Vaccine’ for Cows to Stop Farts and Burps in the Name of Fighting Climate Change”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/bill-gates-jeff-bezos-pour-millions-climate-vaccine/

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      There’s an outfit here trialling that too, not sure who’s funding it: even our sacred cows aren’t safe from the meddling mad scientists. Methane? Pffft!

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    • #
      Gary S

      Too much money, too little brain.

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      mawm

      I remember when a large company that had a finger in many pies managed to hybridise cows to provide low fat meat – all to protect our cholesterol levels. Unfortunately I was invited to a dinner where this meat was on the menu. It tasted awful and the amount of gas produced by the guests later would have raised the temperatures by a few degrees. I think the cows were allowed to gracefully retire from the meat industry.

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  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “So what are the odds of a second COVID event in a second Trump administration?”

    https://x.com/wretchardthecat/status/1860110487582920877

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    • #
      Mike Jonas

      Good question. There will be plenty of people motivated to sabotage the USA over the next 4 years for their own political ends, no matter how much it hurts the population.

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  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “What Modern Socialists Don’t Want You To Know About Hitler”

    “Historian and author Rainer Zitelmann chats on Dad Saves America about the appalling and consistent lack of understanding of Adolf Hitler’s concept of National Socialism. One idea that just won’t die for the left is the spurious notion that Hitler was an advocate of capitalism, despite his advocacy of four year plans and strict government control over the economy.”

    More at

    https://instapundit.com/686457/#disqus_thread

    and

    https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/11/23/refreshing-history/

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    • #
      KP

      “the spurious notion that Hitler was an advocate of capitalism,”

      Its the fault of the stupid idea that politics is is on a line from Left to Right, from Communism to Fascism.

      Taking Socialism as meaning the State owns the means of production and runs it versus Fascism meaning private capital owns the means of production but the State controls it, where does Capitalism fit in??

      Well, it doesn’t, the world has no room for unfettered private enterprise building civilisations for minimal cost and maximum profit, the State has taken over all private businesses with its regulations, so we all run under fascism these days.

      When the modern Left talk about free enterprise, they mean Fascism, you work your arse off in your business, under their rules, and they will take the profits.

      When the modern Right talk about free enterprise, they mean Fascism, you work your arse off in your business, under their rules, and they will take the profits!

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        GlenM

        It is all meaningless these days from the old European left/right wing of the Eagle with its head looking over its right shoulder denoting stability. Those old Imperial days of the Roman Republic and used by many states of Europe are gone. Command economies are right wing and so are free enterprise/ laissez faire ones. Extreme capitalism and the massive oligopolies of National Socialism have similarities. Whatever.

        20

      • #
        Geoff Sherrington

        KP,

        “But they take the profits”.
        Take them to where? Do they have swimming pools full of cash for swimming in, like Scrooge McDuck?
        No, the profits get fed back into society for all to benefit. No profits, no benefits.

        It reminds me of the CO2 heating story. People focus on the start, the front end of a system of heating and ignore the last bit, of where the radiated heat ends up, its dilution by convection, conduction, etc.

        It is long past the time to be spreading bogey man stories about capitalism. It is the best system we have seen.
        Geoff S

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        • #
          KP

          “No, the profits get fed back into society for a few to benefit. ….

          I would rather the billionaires spent their own money than bureaucrats spent it for them, although the opportunity costs of not having a free market capitalist economy are far more damaging than the losses from taxes. Hence Australia can’t make anything worthwhile and the Govt spends billions of absolutely stupid ideas and propping up unprofitable industries.

          The big questions are, if there were no compulsory taxes, would businesses drop their prices by that much? If we all were responsible for ourselves instead of relying on Govt, would we make better choices in life and make Govt far far cheaper?

          20

  • #
    Custer Van Cleef

    The Palestine Problem — early 1900s to early 2000s (in 5 parts):

    — contains many quotations from key participants via journals and diaries.
    — other sources were reports by commissions or committees set up by international bodies.
    — original source documents and books are listed in the end notes.

    Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem — at un.org

    A lot to read but you can dive in anywhere. I did a text search on “Balfour Declaration” and “Deir Yassin” to zoom in on bits I needed to clarify, then branched out from there.

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  • #
    RickWill

    I found an interesting global elevation map at this link:
    https://whatismyelevation.net/elevation-map
    The map includes the permafrost line in good contrast unless you zoom in too far.

    Using this map, it is possible to observe the elevation of the permafrost line across the entire globe. It zooms in to quite fine detail but the best contrast for permafrost is around mid zoom before it changes to mostly white.

    Excluding the ice blocks of Greenland and Antartica, the elevation of the permafrost line is close to 4200m right across the globe. The Andes in South America span a large latitudinal range but the permafrost line has no clear trend with latitude. You can look at the mountains in Alaska to the permafrost line around the Himalayas and the 4200m elevation is close to the line.

    An elevation of 4200m corresponds to 600hPa. Under saturated conditions, there would be up to 35mm of water above this level. At higher elevations, the atmospheric water would be less.

    Now 35mm of atmospheric water is the threshold for convective instability. Convective instability cannot occur if the atmospheric water is below that level.

    It is my contention that Earth would be a snowball when the atmospheric pressure was less than 600hPa and these observations provide the proof. It would not matter how much CO2 was present because water is the control knob of the atmosphere.

    Today, more than half of the Australian land mass has atmospheric moisture above 35mm. Storms are possible over mush of the continent.
    https://earth.nullschool.net/#2024/11/23/2200Z/wind/surface/level/overlay=total_precipitable_water/orthographic=135.36,-34.12,798/loc=142.397,-36.113

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      I agree with your description of the Australian continent.

      20

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Freudian slip, or Will precision?

      If the bom-bastic’s prophecy for next week comes true, a lot of the country will turn to ‘mush’ 😃

      Re: some poem about drought & flooding rains.

      30

      • #
        RickWill

        I saw the ‘mush’ within time to correct it but it could very well be appropriate. We have reasonable soaking rain here in SE Melbourne right now. And still quite warm almost wet season conditions rather than just summer rain. The air “feels” heavy.

        60

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “F-35’s Cooling Crisis: Design Flaws Fuel $2 Trillion Dilemma For Pentagon”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/military/f-35s-cooling-crisis-design-flaws-fuel-2-trillion-dilemma-pentagon

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    • #
      KP

      Usual story, they gave the racehorse design brief to a committee and got an ass…

      “what was supposed to be a relatively low-cost, lighter complement to large twin-engined fighters..became a single-engine fighter heavier than many twin-engined fighters.”

      They now have an aircraft no-one can afford.

      “the program cost.. is now projected to be over $2 trillion, 400 percent more in inflation-adjusted dollars than its 2007 GAO estimate. Further… the cost estimate could grow once again.”

      I saw a video of an SU-57 putting on an impressive demonstration at the Chinese airshow, but of course NATO and America are going to clear the airspace over Ukraine with their far superior aircraft…

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    • #
      Malk

      That was a problem even in the early development of the F-35 as that problem was raised in the aircraft selection process. The report i read at the time were critical of the durability of the engine cooling system. The cooling limited the operation of the aircraft to about 10mins for the VTO operation. i considered that the poor cooling was enough to rule that aircraft out but they chose it anyway.
      many of the selections are given to the company and not on the quality of the aircraft

      50

  • #
    william x

    Great news fellow bloggers!

    Breaking Sunday 8am Aust EST.

    “Sky News has revealed the Albanese government will dump its misinformation and disinformation bill in response to overwhelming opposition in the Senate.

    Political Editor Andrew Clennell broke the news on Sunday Agenda after it had become clear the Coalition, Greens and crossbench all opposed the legislation.

    The proposed laws, which threatened online platforms for failing to curb “misinformation”, had sparked fierce opposition.

    Communications Minister Michelle Rowland is expected to make an announcement later on Sunday.”

    https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/albanese-government-abandons-controversial-misinformation-bill-amid-widespread-opposition/news-story/419011dcb06b58838316a82537eef4e4

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    U.N. Secretary-General Seems a Bit Concerned His ‘Climate Finance’ Is Drying Up

    It’s long been my view that the United Nations buildings in New York City should be transformed into Trump hotels and a giant Chick-fil-A, and the more Antonio Guterres talks the stronger my opinion on that gets.

    First off though I’ll share one of my favorite quotes, and you might have seen it before, but Michael Crichton had the best rebuttal to anybody who talks about “a consensus of scientists” like the climate cultists do:

    I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had.

    Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.

    And yet “consensus of scientists” is considered a scientific argument from the Left, but last year John Stossel pointed out how that “consensus” is manufactured and meaningless:

    Antonio Guterres needs to be told to eff off in the strongest possible terms. Some European countries and maybe some in the Western Hemisphere will agree to be fleeced as usual but at least the U.S. has an incoming president who won’t perpetuate the scam.

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      It’s All About the Money

      Climate conferences are mostly dreary boondoggles, but every now and then things come into focus. Like when they talk about money.

      The “green” scam is all about the money. Global warming warriors are trying to pull off the greatest transfer of wealth since the Industrial Revolution.

      Mostly is this is from industry to industry, but it also applies from country to country. Thus, the “developing” countries try to shame the “rich” countries into giving them money. Lots of money.

      COP 29 is the typically useless climate conference now taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan. (I am not sure why.) The conference should have ended already, but it is being prolonged by the issue the delegates care most about: money.

      Developed nations should pay $300 billion a year by 2035 to help poorer countries deal with climate change, according to a new draft deal from U.N. climate talks published early on Sunday, after an earlier target of $250 billion was rejected.

      Rejected by the “poor” countries, who want more.

      The document, described as a draft decision rather than a draft negotiating text like previous iterations, said nations had decided to set a goal “of at least $300 billion per year by 2035 for developing country Parties for climate action.”

      So it sounds like the parties are going to agree on $300 billion. Per year. What is the rationale?

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      • #
        Mike Jonas

        I think you will find that the rationale is quite straightforward: they get eye-catching headlines and no-one actually has to pay anyone anything.

        20

        • #
          OldOzzie

          UN climate summit’s $300bn deal slammed as ‘stage-managed’

          Poorer countries concede in fight with rich world and fossil fuel producers over funds to deal with global warming

          The world’s most important climate talks were pulled back from the brink of collapse after poorer countries reluctantly accepted a finance package of “at least” $300bn a year from wealthy nations after bitter negotiations.

          Fears about stretched budgets around the world and the election of Donald Trump as US president, who has described climate change as a “hoax”, drove the developing countries into acceptance of the slightly improved package after Sunday 2.30am local time in Baku.

          The UN COP29 climate summit almost collapsed twice throughout Saturday evening and into the early hours of Sunday morning, as vulnerable nations walked out of negotiations and India objected stridently.

          As the gavel came down, India’s lead negotiator Neelesh Sah leapt to his feet to ask to take the floor, and when he was ignored made a furious timeout gesture above his head and led his team on to the stage in protest.

          Speaking from the floor, Indian delegation member Chandi Raina said the country was “extremely disappointed” by the abrupt passage of the agreement, adding: “This was stage-managed.”

          “It is a paltry sum,” she said. “I am sorry to say that we cannot accept it. We seek a much higher ambition from developed countries.” The agreement was “nothing more than an optical illusion,” she added.

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    KP

    Also on Zerohedge is an article on the hypersonic ICBM used by Russia a couple of days ago to flatten the Yuzmash works in Ukraine. Well, IRBM actually, intermediate range ballistic missile.

    It carries 6 warheads each with 6 submunitions, and comes in at Mach10. The theory is that no anti-missile system can stop it, the ionization of the air around the nosecone makes it invisible to radar.

    London is 20minutes away and Berlin only 15, according to their graphic.

    Its all politics anyway, but the videos of the explosions at night are amazing, a series of six explosions beside one another happening incredible fast, like six short burst out of a machine pistol.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-confirms-it-hit-ukraine-new-hypersonic-oreshnik-missile-capable-reaching-any

    and the video is on Simplicius

    https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/thunderbolt-from-the-skies-putins

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    • #
      RickWill

      Even if USA has been developing a system of defence against these rockets, they are not going to give it to Ukraine so Russia can develop a method around the defences.

      Right now, the Russians think they have the upper hand and that may or may not be true but it would be ill form to have it verified either way by offering it to Ukraine.

      This development could hasten the end of the conflict as Europe loses its resolve to stop Putin. Their view is that it is OK to support Ukraine in wiping out their young men but when there is a threat to their own defence facilities then it is a different matter.

      31

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – Canada but – –

    Inside the bubble

    “Don’t Say We Never Cut Taxes”

    Outside the bubble

    “Merry Christmas everyone!

    The Food Professor- Canadians will save an average of $4.51 during the two-month pause on GST/PST for groceries. The generosity is truly overwhelming—thank you, Minister Freeland.”

    https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/11/23/dont-say-we-never-cut-taxes/

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    another ian

    FWIW – the next round in restrictions and “gimmegrants”

    “IMF Calls For Economy-Crushing Carbon Restrictions That Dwarf COVID Lockdowns”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/imf-calls-carbon-restrictions-economy-bigger-covid-lockdowns

    30

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – Oz?

    “China’s ‘Salt Tycoon’ Telecom Hack is Worst Breach of Communications Networks in History”

    https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2024/11/23/chinas-salt-tycoon-telecom-hack-is-worst-breach-of-communications-network-in-history-n4934571

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    • #
      KP

      Ah, they’re panicking because the Chinese will find out all the dodgy shit the FBI have been up to!

      ” [Chinese government]-affiliated actors have compromised networks at multiple telecommunications companies to enable the theft of… certain information that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders,” the FBI said”

      ie- We want to wiretap these people, and take down posts on these sites, and place trackers on those people…

      “This is war and perhaps it’s time to think about how we can hit them back.. ”

      Lol! As if America isn’t leading the world in hacking and spying!

      So, sifting through the data acquired by illegal means it the real reason for developing AI around the world.

      40

  • #
    RickWill

    Yesterday was a warm day with temp getting into mid 30s so I had a look to see how that altered the electricity consumption for the Sanden heat pump hot water. The consumption totalled 1.01kWh for the day.

    Our gas usage is now approaching zero with most of the bill the service fee currently at $1.0285/day. We will be able to disconnect from gas when the induction cooktop gets installed with a kitchen bench top upgrade in February.

    I have been researching battery suppliers/installers and I am yet to find one who understands the significance of the service fee in the economics.

    Our gas and electricity service fee total $2.66/day. Now I checked what we paid way back in 2010, which was $1.21/day combined. So the annual inflation rate on the service fee has averaged 5.8% over the 14 years.

    If we go out 10 years then the service fees will be 75% above the present level or $4.67/day for both gas and electricity. That works out at $1704 over the year just to have the services without any energy. The current rate corresponds to $971 over a year. Taking the average over 10 years will work out to $13,374 saving if disconnected from the grid. I expect that will pay a large chunk of the battery.

    My view is that electricity prices for consumers will continue to rise impressively as the whole system cost gets spread across fewer consumers. There is strong demand for household batteries:
    https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2024/10/07/home-solar-and-battery-installs-wanted-by-most-australian-households-survey/

    A new household energy survey suggests 68% of home and property owners would spend up to $10,000 on rooftop solar and residential battery installation costs if it meant they could save $2,000 a year on bills.

    On the flip side, TD rates are now up to 5.15% so $20k spent on a battery installation could earn $1030 a year in a TD.

    My 66c/kWh FIT finishes next month. I have a plan coming together to get off the grid once that generous contribution from others expires.

    I forecast maybe a decade ago that there was no sense in having a grid powered by wind and solar in Australia because there was no benefit of scale with the technology. It would always be lower cost to make your own on your site if you had the collector area than buying from the grid. Most suburban houses in Australia have the collection area.

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    • #
      Chad

      Rick,..what is the TD rate ?

      10

    • #
      Philip

      I’m still betting that this madness is coming to an end at some stage. “Some” being the problem.

      In any case, our house has not the sun to facilitate solar, and greens won’t allow trees to be fallen.

      40

      • #
        OldOzzie

        Ed Miliband’s new heat pump plan could tip us into civil unrest

        Very soon, communities will be at war with one another until tempers are stretched beyond breaking point

        Nothing ever seems to deter Ed Miliband, the green commissar of this Labour government. He has already brought back the boiler tax, adding a few hundred pounds to the bill for anyone unlucky enough to need a new heating system this winter.

        Now he is relaxing the size and noise restrictions on heat pumps, allowing them to screech through the night. At this rate, the typical British city will be turned into a cacophonous heat pump farm, with a few pale, sleep-deprived humanoids trapped inside. But hold on. This is crazy. In reality we are doubling down on a failing technology, and risking civil unrest in the process.

        For a man who typically despises any form of deregulation, Miliband makes one crucial exception. If it is part of his net-zero crusade then it is perfectly fine. Too big? Never mind. Too noisy? No problem. Too expensive? What does cost matter when the planet has to be saved? We already have subsidies for heat pumps, quotas and taxes on the traditional alternative. Now they will be allowed to fill the night with noise as well.

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        • #
          OldOzzie

          West Midlands town in uproar over ‘noisy’ £2.5m heat pump

          Residents say the continual loud drone could force them from their homes

          A West Midlands town has been torn apart by a “humming noise” from a £2.5m heat pump installed by a local college without planning permission.

          Dudley College of Technology rushed through construction work on its net zero project amid fears it would lose government funding.

          Neighbours said they could be forced out of their homes due to the “undesirable” drone emitted from the system. Residents also expressed concern over the impact on local wildlife.

          But despite the illegal installation, the college has gained retrospective permission from Dudley Council’s planning committee for the scheme. It means the college – which was forced to apologise for breaking planning rules – does not have to tear down the system.

          Estates director, Steve Johnson, told the committee: “The college openly admits it has not followed the process, we are extremely apologetic for that. It is not our normal behaviour.

          “The £2.5m project is substantially funded by the Department for Net Zero which had tight spending requirements and we had to spend the money by March 2025, which forced the college to progress the works.”

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          • #
            OldOzzie

            Government to relax noise restrictions on heat pumps for net zero

            Ed Miliband’s department also lifting size limit on unsightly boxes

            Noise restrictions on heat pumps are to be relaxed in the pursuit of net zero.

            Ministers have said they will scrap current rules that block homeowners from installing a heat pump less than a metre from their property’s boundary.

            The requirement was introduced because the systems can produce a loud buzzing noise of up to 60 decibels that can annoy neighbours.

            The Government will also lift the limit on size of the unsightly boxes and pour more money into subsidising them.

            Ed Miliband’s department, which announced the changes, said they were part of plans to deliver an extra 300,000 home upgrades next year.

            Ministers are doubling next year’s funding for a subsidies scheme that allows families to claim up to £7,500 towards the cost of a new heat pump.

            The previous government set itself a target of achieving 600,000 heat pump installations a year by 2028 to hit net zero goals.

            But 14,000 heat pumps were installed between last April and this March, less than half of the 50,000 installations expected.

            By contrast, about 1.5 million new gas-fired boilers were put in, mostly to replace worn-out models.

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            • #
              OldOzzie

              Millions of homes could install a boiler and heat pump under net zero plans

              Households may use ‘alternative hybrid systems’ amid prohibitive costs and size concerns

              Millions of homes may have to be fitted with a heat pump and a boiler under Ed Miliband’s bid to decarbonise the UK.

              The Energy Secretary’s department has unveiled plans to establish “alternative hybrid systems”, where households can use a heat pump to warm their homes but retain a small gas boiler to make hot water.

              Officials are examining the plan amid growing concern that many people will never be able to replace their boilers with a heat pump because their homes are too small for the hot water storage cylinder needed for showers and baths.

              Mr Miliband wants household heat pump installations to hit 600,000 by 2028, up from 40,000 last year.

              However, the technology remains prohibitively expensive for many households, as heat pump installations typically cost £14,000. That means that, even with grants up to £7,500, installing new heat pumps remains more expensive than replacing gas boilers, which usually costs between £2,000 and £4,000.

              30

              • #
                OldOzzie

                Starmer’s net zero targets ‘will need more heat pumps and electric cars’

                Head of climate change committee says green power grid insufficient to meet Government’s 2035 emissions cut target

                Households will need to switch out gas boilers for heat pumps and use more electric cars to meet the UK’s new net zero targets, Sir Keir Starmer’s top climate adviser has said.

                The Prime Minister announced his target to cut emissions by 81 per cent by 2035 at the Cop29 climate summit in Baku on Tuesday.

                Sir Keir insisted he would not be “telling people how to live their lives” as part of efforts to meet the ambitious targets, instead relying heavily on the Government’s target for a green power grid by 2030.

                “That’s the single most important target on the way to the emissions,” he told broadcasters in Azerbaijan.

                But Emma Pinchbeck, the head of the climate change committee, said the green power grid would be insufficient to meet the Government’s 2035 target and would result in a need for people to switch gas boilers for heat pumps and use electric cars.

                “They’ve done the job with working out how to get a lot of clean, cheap domestic electricity,” she told The Telegraph. “We need to get technologies into people’s homes so they can use the electricity.”

                “What we’re looking for is progress on heat decarbonisation and transport decarbonisation and renewables.”

                She said the “secret weapon technologies for the next decade are heat pumps and electric vehicles”.

                20

              • #
                OldOzzie

                Applies to Australia under Labor Blackout Bowen, Labor PM AirmilesAlbo & Labor Future Fund Chalmers!

                Miliband’s promises of cheap and easy energy don’t add up

                Labour’s approach means higher costs for families, jobs lost overseas and higher global emissions

                Every week Keir Starmer jets off somewhere new to do more harm to the national interest. First, he surrendered British sovereign territory in the Chagos Islands to an ally of China. Then he was bullied into discussing billions of pounds for slavery reparations at talks in Samoa.

                Next, he signed Britain up to even more costly climate targets in Azerbaijan, and this week he was in Brazil, cosying up to the biggest beneficiary of his climate plans – China. Perhaps he should consider staying at home.

                The Prime Minister claims his new target to reduce carbon emissions by 81 per cent by 2035 will make us a global leader. The truth is, we have been one for many years and other major countries have not followed our lead.

                We were the first major economy to halve our emissions since 1990. In that time, the US has barely cut emissions at all, while China’s have tripled.

                Keir told us his new emission reduction targets are necessary to win the global race for jobs, yet the biggest manufacturer of clean energy technology in the world is China, which is still 60 per cent powered by coal, and, according to recent data, is now one of the largest polluters of all time.

                Whether it’s batteries, cables, or solar panels, the biggest beneficiary of Labour’s headlong rush to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030 will not be Britain, but China, who dominate clean technology supply chains.

                Without time to grow, British businesses will be frozen out in favour of cheap, coal-powered Chinese mass-manufacturing. Labour will be driving billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into the hands of the world’s largest polluter, all in the name of tackling climate change.

                This will be turbocharged by a hidden policy bomb implicit in Ed Miliband’s flagship project to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030.

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              • #
                RickWill

                The problem with heat pumps in the UK is that it is cold.
                https://news.sky.com/story/storm-bert-latest-multi-hazard-weather-event-hits-uk-and-ireland-as-snow-accumulating-thick-and-fast-13258302

                When I installed my heat pump a few months ago, the average daily temperature was around 12C. It was taking around 2kWh to provide the required heat. Yesterday the average temperature was around 28C and it only took 1kWh to provide the required heat.

                I remember hen we lived in Dampier, The hot water heater was installed inside and, during the dry season, we used it as a water chiller by turning it off. The tank was cooled by the air-conditioned room. The nominal cold water tap ran at about 40C so it was used as the hot water. So water heating cost nothing. Cooling was a cost but the mining company supplied free electricity.

                Heat pumps are viable in most of the UK without ground sourced heat but do not offer the saving that are achievable in Australia.

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              • #

                First, he surrendered British sovereign territory in the Chagos Islands to an ally of China.

                Hmm! Some say Chagos Archipelago. Others might think of it by the better known name of one of the ‘islands’ in that group, Diego Garcia.

                The British may have taken it from the Chagossians, and then leased it to the U.S. for a huge discount on Polaris missiles.

                Now the new British Government has given it back to Mauritius, who ally with China.

                Starmer et all might say that the 99 year lease of that huge US Base is safe, but hey ….. washed hands, not our problem any more, next please!

                Very few people outside military people have heard of, or know about Diego Garcia, but it’s strategic value is beyond comprehension.

                Tony.

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              • #
                KP

                “Very few people outside military people have heard of, or know about Diego Garcia, but it’s strategic value is beyond comprehension.”

                Why do the Americans have a giant military base across the other side of the world, its certainly not their ‘backyard’! Another part of their machinery to rule the world, because ‘if we don’t the Chinese will! You’d better agree to stand with us or its slavery for you!!’

                Actually the Chinese were sailing around the world thousands of years ago, and how much did they conquer?? They’re not the ones with hundreds of military bases all over the world and involvement in continuous wars since WW2…

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              • #

                In other words, ‘they’ are now starting to think about what the whole Nut Zero actually means . . .

                Wowsers!
                The UK does, indeed, have a Rolls Royce of a Civil Service.

                Auto
                /s omitted originally, but, just in case folk are daft enough to think I am an admirer of the 2024 Civil Service …

                00

      • #
        RickWill

        I have about a 10 year investment horizon. I cannot see any changes coming in Australia that will reverse the trends in energy cost in that time frame.

        Even if Australia finds their Trump, it would take more than a decade to build a new coal fired power station. Also Australia does not have the same natural gas economics as the USA so the gas price will continue to be based on global price and that will remain high for a quite a few years until Europe opens the door top fracking.

        Even if SMRs were readily available, the legal impediments to getting a nuclear station up and running will take such a development well beyond 2035.

        There could be some quick relief by killing the mandated consumer theft but there is too much super fund money dependent on that theft to just shut it down. If the wealth fund invest more into “renewable” then it will be impossible to shut it down.

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        • #

          I still think that a new tech coal fired power plant built on a ‘brown field’ site could be delivering power long before any Nuclear plant of any sort.

          If only politicians could see that. If only the ‘Science’ involved in the aspects of those coal fired plants was treated in the same manner as ANY other science.

          Brown coal or black coal.

          Surely I”m not the only one who has even looked at this ….. umm, for 16 years now.

          Too scared to contemplate it really.

          Tony.

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    • #
      Graeme4

      Without any indication of what you are saving by adding a battery, it’s impossible to confirm that you will pay off the battery within its short lifetime. When I did the figures, there is no way that the additional savings I would make would pay off the battery. So it’s a definite no from me, and I’m guessing that would be the same for the majority of Australian residences.

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      • #
        RickWill

        Without any indication of what you are saving by adding a battery,

        Most of the saving for me is in the service charges. I showed the calculation for the $13,374 over 10 years. And I am confident that the battery system will last longer than 10 years based on the battery that I installed in 2012 and is still doing its job.

        The 66c/kWh FIT means I currently make money on electricity that has been paying for the gas. But that changes next year so my goal is to spend capital to insulate myself from the inevitable price increases for the energy and the service fees.

        I have said many times, if you do not have a plan to get off grid then your priority should be to start one. Australia is one of the few places in the world where that iit already an economic proposition.

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          Graeme4

          But still no indication of your system costs, your Opportunity Costs or your yearly average power consumption. I tracked my annual usage and supply costs for the year preceding installing rooftop solar. A commentator in The Australian who runs a property off grid said that it cost them $80,000 to setup the installation which a diesel genset for the times that solar fails to deliver. The property goes through $1200 of diesel and $600 service costs annually. They have put money aside for an eventual system replacement.

          30

          • #
            RickWill

            I have 6kW of solar panels. Already paid for and still producing rating. I have an existing 5kWh battery that is down by about 10% on initial capacity but still doing its job. I want to retain that as emergency back up for fridge and freezer and other incidental loads.

            I have an energy surplus with the off-grid panels only averaging 3.9% capacity factor to meet their load demand on the worst days of the years. My 3kW on-grid system has had declining output on average because it is often constrained be street voltage. But I still produce an electricity surplus each month. The current on-grid panels will operate at a similar 4% CF once I go off grid. I have room to install more panels but I will more likely buy a small generator to trickle charge the battery as that provides additional redundancy.

            I am currently getting prices for an off-grid battery and pure sine wave self-clocking inverter. I am within two months of closing the gas account. I was quoted $17k for a 20kWh battery-inverter/charge controller but I am not very impressed with the knowledge of the supplier I am dealing with. I have a number of other equiries in the pipeline.

            My 66c/kWh FIT ends on the 31st December as I understand it so I want to have a firm plan and prices for going off grid by then.

            My decision to install the original 3kW on-grid system back in 2010 has paid for itself a few times over in the past 14 years. Not hard with a 66c/kWh FIT but not many people saw the opportunity.

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            • #
              Graeme4

              I thought that battery lifetime was said to be at its end when the battery drops to 90%? Is my assumption wrong, and if so, what percentage figure is used for lithium storage batteries to say they are finished?
              As for the other data, it seems that it wont be available, so I’ll leave it at that.

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          Yarpos

          Makes a lot of assumptions about the average petsons access to capital vs a $1 a day expense. Sometimes things dont make accounting sense but its what people can do.

          People who are better off have more options. Situation normal.

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      Sambar

      Rick, if you live in suburbia you may never be able to get rid of those “service charges”. Like the “Parks and gardens” levie on your water bill, you may well be charged just for the pleasure of the poles and wires and gas pipes that run past your property regardless of whether you use the product. After all someone has to pay the maintenance of the infrastructure and semi government dept’s or private companies don’t like to loose any source of revenue.

      30

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        RickWill

        I have checked with the poles and wires business and they have no way to get at your money once you terminate the service. Your last retailer is left with their fee for the meter they have been using to bill you. The retailers have not thought about this because it is not an issue for them yet.

        The service charges are only levied through the retailer. If you stop buying their electricity then they have not mechanism to take your money.

        The only way the retailer can stop paying for the meter is to pay the $240 to have the poles and wires business remove the meter from the premises.

        The only recourse that retailers have to extract money from a household is to threaten to cut off your power. Obviously it is a meaningless threat if you are operating off-grid.

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      • #
        Yarpos

        You also need to accept reponsibility for your own maintenance and incident management. You need to diagnose problems, access spares, install or repair equipment and have alternate generation if needed. Or have a support contract with someone. Or just hope for the nbest.

        30

        • #
          Strop

          Yes. Any problems with an off grid supply is the responsibility of the home owner.
          I’ve been off grid for nearly two years and haven’t had an outage. Previously, living in the upper Yarra Valley, we lost grid supply just about every time there was a strong wind. Plus other outages due to planned network outages, network faults, and kamikaze possums. The worst being a four day outage after a major storm.

          If our off grid setup was to develop a fault then I’d turn on the generator until a sparky could fix it. Which ironically is a generator I bought when living on grid because the grid was unreliable.

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        • #
          RickWill

          I do not mind responsibility for my electrical supply. I have many other things that I am or have been responsibel for. For example, I enjoy the convenience of my own car that I maintain rather than relying on public transport.

          The electricity grid in 2000 had almost 100 years of continuous development and worked very well. Since then it has gradually been converted to a mandated theft scheme with increasing risk of outages. I have been enjoying the benefits of the mandated theft but that ends for me next month. My preference is to maintain control of my power supply and its costs rather than leaving it to Blackout Bowen. I will no longer need to worry about transferring money from electricity account to gas account.

          Both my current systems have been close to maintenance free. The only fault was failure of the original on=grid inverter after 3 years that was replaced under warranty without cost to me.

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          • #
            KP

            I think I’ll settle for buying a dozen Teslas for dirt cheap and cutting the bodies off them with a grinder for scrap. Then I can stack the battery chassis up on their ends and put a roof over them, giving a fine shed and battery pack at once.

            What else are they going to do with all these broken EVs?

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      Gob

      A link to the institution offering “TD rates … up to 5.15%” would be greatly appreciated RickWill; I can’t find better than four percent.

      00

  • #

    Today is the Anniversary of Charles Darwin’s Book – On the Origin of Species

    Published on the 24th of November, 1859

    On the Origin of Species (or, more completely, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life)[3] is a work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin that is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. It was published on 24 November 1859.[4] Darwin’s book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection although Lamarckism was also included as a mechanism of lesser importance. The book presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had collected on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Recently read Voyage of the Beagle by the man himself: all things considered, he was fortunate to make it home alive.

      Also, always having had the image of him as an old man, it was enlightening to read his perceptions of the new worlds he found himself in when at the age of 22 or so: very thorough in his study of animals and landforms – coral reefs included.

      He wasn’t too impressed with NZ, although his only contact, brief as it was, was the Hellhole of the Pacific, Kororareka or today’s Russell. Liquor and loose women? Only during Christmas holidays now.

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    • #

      Blackout Bowen proves that there are some outliers (out liars) with Darwin’s analysis. LOL. Along with Albo Sleazy, Wenny Pong, Tanya Plebersuck, Toe Knee Burke, and all the other Marxists.

      Some extinctions cannot come some enough………………

      50

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      A minor point – Darwin had to pay for his voyage (as he wasn’t a member of the NAVY).
      He sent lots of specimens back to England via other Naval ships totalling tons.
      The question of charging for freight was raised but decided that as a paying guest then the Navy had to pay.

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    • #

      Why give a red ‘down thumb’ to a post like this? Please explain. If you dare to that is.

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    OldOzzie

    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/notre-dame-cathedral-restoration-reopening

    An exclusive look inside the restored Notre Dame—before it reopens its doors to the public

    Five years after a catastrophic fire, Paris’s beloved cathedral will open to great fanfare. Nat Geo got exclusive access to witness how an army of architects and artisans rebuilt the church back to its sacred splendor.

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid: UN Climate Talks Features ‘Sewage Beer’”

    Concludes

    “Singapore was most recently promoting the sewage beer at UN climate talks. Even leaving aside the human feces, wastewater often contains potentially harmful steroid hormones, and a common water disinfectant has a potentially toxic byproduct. I don’t know enough scientifically to say that treated wastewater is certainly dangerous for your health, but let’s face it: at this point, the woke scientific community is hardly reliable when it tells us not to worry.

    UN climate propagandists can play up the “sewage beer” all they want, but I don’t trust them for five seconds. As we know, the honesty and integrity of the jihad-loving UN and climate alarmists went down the toilet years ago.”

    https://pjmedia.com/

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    Vladimir

    To use nuke-capable missile to deliver 6 by 180 kg conventional charges was a stupid step. It confirms again that current Russian military aims to destroy square miles of life and all associated with life, not to hit a military-important target.

    If Putin wanted to scare Trump or NATO or whoever by nuclear WW3, the most effective in all senses step would be to conduct a proper bomb test, which they did last time 31 year ago.

    Ask yourself why did not they?

    A hint – there is huge chance such test would fail.

    24

    • #
      KP

      Not at all Vlad, it demonstrated the missile works and they say it can be loaded with either warheads. They know their nuclear bombs work, they didn’t want the city to be a radioactive ruin, they just wanted to destroy the missile factory.

      Thanks to common security cameras everywhere around the world we can see the way it arrives, and as usual for a Russian strike-

      “At least three people were injured in the attack.. and A number of buildings were also damaged.” Putin said he doesn’t want to destroy the Ukrainian people, he just wants Ukraine to be unable to fight a war.

      So I’d say a complete success, and if you’re an American soldier in Ukraine busily setting up ATACMS, you’ll be praying no-one knows just whereabouts you are!

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      • #

        Yes, but the Russians know where the NATO people are in the Ukraine which is why they have been targeting and killing them.

        You can run but you can’t hide. Of course, you will never hear this on the BBC or other Western Media.

        Game over soon.

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      • #

        If Putin didn’t want to destroy the Ukrainian people, why did soldiers arrive in the towns they first occupied, with folders with names and addresses of people who disappeared into mass graves? People who could be important for Ukrainian culture – writers, journalists, society’s leaders.

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      GlenM

      For demonstration purposes, old chap.

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      Yarpos

      Probably the same reason that the US and other dont. They agreed not to. Could all be abandoned like other treaties but not sure what the purpose would be. Its a solved problem demonstrated by multiple countries.

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    OldOzzie

    A Look at the Future for Australia under Labor Blackout Bowen, Labor PM AirMilesAlbo & Labor Future Fund Chalmers!

    No mojitos and no lights: Cuba’s tourism industry fights losing battle

    Power cuts and shortages of basic items plague Communist-ruled island’s vital sector

    A swashbuckling history, vintage cars, Caribbean beaches and one of the safest destinations in the Americas: in theory, Cuba’s tourism industry should be booming.

    Yet annual visitor numbers to the Communist-ruled island nation have almost halved in six years, falling from 4.7mn in 2017 to 2.4mn last year. And since an electricity grid failure caused four days of nationwide blackouts last month, tour operators said they have had significant cancellations from worried tourists with bookings in the high season, which stretches from November through March.

    “While there will always be food and water for tourists with dollars in their pockets, we can’t guarantee that the lights will be on, so we have to advise customers to bring rechargeable torches, fans and power banks,” said Gareth Johnson, founder of Young Pioneer Tours.

    European and US tour companies said regular power cuts resulting from a lack of money to import oil were just part of a web of logistical problems making it increasingly difficult to operate on the island.

    Record-breaking outward migration has eviscerated skilled labour in the tourism sector, while a shambolic, cratering economy has left tour operators scrambling to find accommodation that can offer constant running water, petrol for transport and basic ingredients for tourists’ food and drinks. They said state hotels were often forbidden to buy from the private sector and forced instead to buy from poorly stocked state suppliers.

    “The first thing people ask for when they arrive is a mojito — but often the hotels can’t even serve that as they don’t have any Cuban mint,” said one European tour operator, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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    • #

      No problems. Just send the whole Feral Guv’ment to Cuba where they can enjoy the Marxist way of life. Mind you, the Pension Plan there is not so gooooooooooooooood. Bananas and coconuts only with broken down electricity. And lots of Hurricanes.

      That leaves Australia in a far, far better place.

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    David Maddison

    I am in the mountains of Nepal now and those who believe in a Net Zero lifestyle are seriously deluded. The indoor and outdoor pollution from wood and dung cooking fires, no hot water, random or no electricity and lighting (from solar battery systems or grid electricity if available and subject to regular load shedding), no room heating etc. are not a lifestyle to be aspired to.

    The people here are very nice but live under great hardship without access to inexpensive energy.

    Posted from Chalangpati, Nepal. 28.10009°N, 85.37123°E altitude 3578m.

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    • #

      Exactly David. Where is the UN to help these people? Where is the IMF? Where is the World Bank? Where is Australia? Where is the UK to help after the Gurkas gave years of service?

      They are all MINA. And that means ‘Missing In No Action’. They all have NFI and I don’t need to explain that one.

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      • #

        Well I take that back. That do have an idea. They just don’t care as there is NO MONEY IN IT.

        50

        • #
          KP

          If Nepal suddenly voted with China at the UN all that would change!

          10

        • #
          David Maddison

          I think Leftists should come to Nepal and help the locals turn cow and yak dung into “cakes” WITH THEIR BARE HANDS LIKE THE LOCALS DO, for use as a Net Zero cooking fuel. And they shouldn’t just do it for the standard virtue signaing photo op, they should do it full time for a year or two until they (Leftists) get the message.

          Of course, removing all that dung from the fields has other consequences, removal of nutrients, which have to be replaced with other fertilisers, probably from synthetic processes which require large amounts of inexpensive, reliable energy…

          (Posted from Laurebina, Nepal, 28.09191°N, 85.38144°E Elevation 3900m)

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          • #
            David Maddison

            I wanted to take a picture or video of a woman making dung cakes and asked my guide to ask her permission but she declined. Even she realised the humiliations of a Net Zero lifestyle. I did however get a picture of the dung cakes.

            (Posted from Laurebina, Nepal, 28.09191°N, 85.38144°E Elevation 3900m)

            30

            • #
              Ronin

              David, are the dung cakes a form of ‘briquettes’ for fuel.??

              10

            • #
              Tel

              In all fairness … this is one place where solar panels might actually be useful. Admittedly, these people probably can’t afford them, but at least some factors are in favour of the panels:

              * They don’t have a problem if they primarily do cooking, etc in the middle of the day.

              * They don’t very often get heavy cloud because their local climate is quite dry.

              * They are far from any grid and building a power station has the problem that, what would they use for fuel?

              * Intermittent power is not as much of a setback when you haven’t got used to regular power to begin with.

              00

      • #
        Ronin

        “Where is the UN to help these people? Where is the IMF? Where is the World Bank? Where is Australia?”

        Nooooooooooooo, they are far better off living tough rather than let those clowns get a foot in the door.

        20

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    Mike

    Been reading via comments re-cool conditions around the country. I live in the Far Nth Qld tropics & it’s the coolest Nov I can remember for many years. Two days of steady rain without storm front. Nice, good luck to the lawn mowing contractors hey?
    Lovely mid 20’s dusk- dawn, low humidity. Bring it on climate change!

    60

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Start of the La Nińa?
      Of course that is only said to be likely if you are one of those eccentric people who think that natural changes occur in the Climate.

      50

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    OldOzzie

    Nation’s technological edge about to become much duller

    GRAHAM LLOYD

    This week, while Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen was calculating the hours of sunlight that fall on Melbourne relative to London, nuclear regulators in the US gave the go-ahead for the construction of two small-scale molten salt nuclear reactors – the first electricity-producing fourth-generation plants to be approved for construction in the US.

    Developer Kairos Power will need to secure an operating licence before the plant can begin operations. But the company says its fluoride salt cooled high-temperature reactor “is a novel advanced reactor technology that aims to be cost competitive with natural gas in the US electricity market and to provide a long-term reduction in cost”.

    Last month, Kairos signed an agreement with Google to deploy a US fleet of advanced nuclear-power projects totalling 500 megawatts by 2035. In June, Microsoft founder Bill Gates helped break ground for the construction of a sodium test reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming by 2030.

    The plants are small and still some way off, but they are the early fruits of decades of collaborative research. This makes the Albanese government’s decision to pull Australia from the Generation IV International Forum all the more remarkable. GIF is a grouping of countries that co-operate on research and development on next-generation nuclear-energy systems, with the aim of making fourth-generation nuclear available for deployment by 2030.

    The forum’s work has identified six technologies for development: the gas-cooled fast reactor; the lead-cooled fast reactor; the molten-salt reactor; the sodium-cooled fast reactor; the supercritical water-cooled reactor; and the very high temperature reactor.

    Bowen justified his decision to withdraw Australia from the research pact on the basis that solar worked better in Australia because London had only 1633 hours of sunshine in an average year, whereas Melbourne had 2362 hours.

    60

    • #
      OldOzzie

      From the Comments

      Instead, Bowen said Australia would not sign because we had no plans for a civilian nuclear industry.

      DC’s Suicide Squad is an apt name for the Labor Party’s Renewable Squad.

      Imagine putting Bowen in charge of our Energy? Oh wait… he is.
      Imagine putting Plibersek in charge of our Environment and Water? Oh wait… they did.
      Imagine making Chalmers Treasurer? Oh wait… they did.
      Imagine making Dreyfus Attorney General? Oh wait… they did.
      Imagine making Albanese Prime Minister? Oh wait… we did.

      The list goes on and on…

      – Yet another example of why this government has continued to failed Australians and tarnished our reputation with every decision made so far and need to be voted out.

      – This would have to be beyond doubt the worst Government Australia has had since Federation, every day they mine a new low, I simply cannot comprehend some of their decisions, whether it be on Immigration, Energy, Industrial relations, housing, the list it seems is endless, even just now are whining their Misinformation/Disinformation Bill was defeated, and thank goodness for small mercies, they simply must be voted out, they are destroying our reputation

      we are being dealt out of the research push now because of political expediency

      Ideological ‘madness’ – clearly some (so-called progressive) people have their head buried in the sand!

      Yet another glaring example of ideology trumping common sense and pragmatism, which the Labor party seems to be champions at…

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      • #

        The good thing is that there is an Australian Feral Guv’ment Election (Erection) coming up soon and by at least May 2025.

        So the Voters who have seen that their Living Standards have plummeted under this Marxist Guv’ment can now have the legal electoral way to boot them out.

        So, my prediction is that the Marxists will be booted out BIG TIME.

        QED

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    • #

      Last time I calculated there were 8760 hours in a year. Lazy solar!

      00

    • #
      Tel

      I fully encourage research and experimentation but molten salt has always been a material science problem … in a nutshell, it destroys containment, eats through pipes and generally plays havoc with metals.

      The theory is fine, but modern alloys and coatings are still catching up. Presumably there’s some kind of pipe with a ceramic coating yet to be invented which might do the job, but in the meantime it’s one of the many unsolved problems.

      00

  • #

    Just like Camel Hair Harris of the Demo Rats in the USA, the ALP here in the Great Country of Australia have lost the plot.

    And there is no truth in the rumour that Karl Marx’s grave in Highgate Cemetery in North London is a communist plot…….lol……It is an old joke.

    Bring on the Gewewal Ewection as Benny Hill would say.

    Get wid of those Marxists.

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    • #
      Graeme4

      Only issue I have with the figures is the claim that most U.S. residences consume 30 kWh daily. I believe that the Australian average is 15 kWh. I average 12 kWh in winter and 25 kWh in summer. However, I am aware that large double-storey houses with a pool in hotter areas can consume 70 kWh daily in summer.

      11

      • #
        Yarpos

        So what is the issue? should they be more like us you think?

        00

        • #
          Graeme4

          No, but I don’t believe that 30 kWh is the U.S. average. I’m betting that their actual average is lower. Will have a look at the actual data.

          10

          • #
            Graeme4

            Ok I’m wrong. Their average power consumption is 30 kWh. Seems a lot, but a variety of sources say the same..

            10

      • #
        Red

        G4 you need to take into account how a house is heated and it’s hot water source before you can compare electricity consumption . From your figures you do not heat your house in winter with electricity do you.

        00

  • #
    el+gordo

    Congratulations to all who fought to maintain the status quo.

    ‘The government has dumped its misinformation bill to regulate speech on social media.

    ‘The bill was widely criticised by legal experts, media companies and the government’s political opponents.

    ‘There is one week left in the year for the government to pass its legislative agenda.’ (ABC)

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      TdeF

      That’s a typical snarky backhander. The ‘status quo’ is freedom. Our hard won freedom of speech. Do you prefer a dictatorship?

      Governments should not be legislating what is truth. That’s blatant censorship. Only totalitarians do that.

      They do not have the right. It’s not their job. That’s democracy. The right to say what you think. Free speech.

      And if people do not like what you say, they are free to say so. And if you do commercial damage, they can sue for defamation.

      That is our country. And the fight for this freedom has been going on for thousands of years.

      Next will be a law about what you are to believe. While outlawing religion. Like North Korea.

      All governments want control. They need to be told to get back to defence, customs, immigration, trade, the ONLY areas of the Federal government given in our Constitution.

      We the people did not give them the power to legislate away our fundamental right to free speech implicit in our British tradition. We do not need a Bill of Rights. We have all rights until and unless there is a law against it.

      And as with The Voice, this is another attempt by a communist led government to strip us of our rights. Meanwhile there is an attempt to give us all a mandated electronic ID to track and monitor everything we do. We have already seen people arrested for comments on Facebook. The government, Federal, State and City, do not have that right.

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        el+gordo

        ‘That’s a typical snarky backhander.’

        Not intended, its a victory for commonsense.

        The ALP is in big trouble going into the election, the people aired their views with the Voice and now this shambles. Elon convinced them to back off.

        02

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – a well maintained military

    “Our Embarrassing Rust Bucket Navy”

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/11/23/our-embarrassing-rust-bucket-navy-n3797299

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “You’ll Never Guess What Collapsed the Same Day as the German Government”

    “THE WIND DIED ALONG WITH THE GOVERNMENT COALITION

    And the cold weather came in just as it did. Part of the reason the government fractured? Ruinous green energy policies which exploded the price of electricity thanks to transitioning to unreliable renewables.”

    “As if to hammer home the message, as the government collapsed and the wind died away simultaneously, what happened to the market price of electricity?

    Through the roof.”

    https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2024/11/22/youll-never-guess-what-collapsed-the-same-day-as-the-german-government-n3797269

    20

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    another ian

    FWIW – Hmmmm!

    “Joe Rogan Tells Josh Brolin His Recent Bell’s Palsy Diagnosis Could Be Linked to mRNA Vaccine”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/joe-rogan-tells-josh-brolin-his-recent-bells/

    30

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    another ian

    FWIW – for a hair curler!

    “Wait Until You Hear What Planned Parenthood Was Just Caught Doing”

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2024/11/23/planned-parenthood-caught-selling-23-week-old-aborted-babies-for-research-n2648163

    10

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    another ian

    FWIW – more covid scene

    “Crime of the Century?”

    Naomi Wolf – “What’s in the Pfizer documents?”

    “And when, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she found her view of lockdown measures as “totalitarian” unwelcome in the legacy media – which accused her of spreading “conspiracy theories” – she gave interviews on the subject to the likes of Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk as well as to the conservative TV networks Sky News Australia and GB News in Britain. She also appeared frequently on Steve Bannon’s WarRoom podcast – which helped make possible her eye-opening new book The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes against Humanity, edited by Wolf with Amy Kelly and published by WarRoom.”

    Much more at

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/crime-of-the-century/

    Via https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/11/24/november-24-2024-reader-tips/#comment-1957384

    30

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    another ian

    FWIW

    How to get all those headlines to coordinate? Check “Who owns who”

    CORPORATE MEDIA COMMITS HARI-KARI—NO FLOWERS PLEASE!”

    https://richardsonpost.com/howellwoltz/38006/corporate-media-commits-hari-kari-no-flowers-please/

    10

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    another ian

    FWIW – I wasn’t up to speed on that

    “Ed Miliband bacon sandwich photograph”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Miliband_bacon_sandwich_photograph

    00

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    Skepticynic

    “1. We declare and the data confirm that the COVID-19 Experimental Genetic therapy Injections must end.”

    Declaration made from a Global Covid Summit. The declaration was made under the auspices of the International Alliance of Physicians and Medical Scientists.

    https://x.com/wopizza4/status/1860004775447982289?t=GZLq8fyM_gvGQl9XQPpaPQ&s=09

    THE mRNA “vaccine” pioneer Dr Robert Malone, backed by 17,000 doctors from around the world, has called for the Covid 19 genetic therapy injections to be removed from market. Malone and the doctors agree there is zero benefit related to risk and that infection and death is more likely after being injected.

    “They do not reduce Covid 19 infection, which is treatable and not terminal. Furthermore the most recent data demonstrates that you are more likely to become infect, or have disease or even death if you’ve been vaccinated, compared to the unvaccinated people. This is shocking to hear but this is what the data are showing us.”

    A Systematic Review Of Autopsy Findings In Deaths After COVID-19 Vaccination – Science, Public Health Policy and the Law

    https://publichealthpolicyjournal.com/a-systematic-review-of-autopsy-findings-in-deaths-after-covid-19-vaccination/

    40

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Oreshnik Most Potent Non Nuclear Weapon; Biden West Seek More Escalation, Russia Offensive Quickens”

    https://rumble.com/v5sjx6t-oreshnik-most-potent-non-nuclear-weapon-biden-west-seek-more-escalation-rus.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp

    10

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    David Maddison

    I am now in Gosaikunda, Nepal, 28.08382°N, 85.40990°E, elevation 4380m (14370ft). It’s freezing up here…

    They need some fossil fuels or cheap, reliable electricity. It’s above the tree line and almost above the line at which anything at all will grow. Wood or dung hauled up from below on the back of a man is just not doing the job.

    40