JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).

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Statistics
I met a bloke whose family have history in the area, who said of the 2011 floods ‘we are yet to see the once in 500-year floods that come yet’.
Mapped from literature back to 1832: http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/fld_history/brisbane_history.shtml
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David Burton aka Inigo Jones, has been saying for years that we are heading for floods like we have not seen since the 1700’s. Aboriginal stories talk about a massive flood around the 1780 ish using a river box as a flood and date marker.
https://trusttrees.org.au/tree/SA/Barmera/Near_The_Overland_Corner_Hotel_Overland_Corner_Overland_Corner_Hotel_Old_Coach_Road
he mentions the planetary cycles are lining up for the same through to 2029
10
Planets aligning…… I hope that the people who speak these words understand that the pull of Saturn on the Earth is just about nothing.
Moving iron ore from WA to china has more impact on the gravitational reactions on Earth. It’s heavy and it’s close, all critical things when you think of gravity falling off at the square of distance.
As a few people have said long before I came along. If you think that Jupiter ascending on the day you were born makes a difference to the way you go through life, then your parents should have been more careful on where the midwife was standing, she presents several orders of gravitational attraction higher than Jupiter. And as a bonus she’ll probably slap you around a little. Jupiter is just not going to do that.
20
One that passed me by at the time: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-08/bureau-of-meteorology-staff-implicated-in-cryptocurrency-ring/9524208
Two Bureau of Meteorology employees are being investigated by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for allegedly running an elaborate operation involving the use of the bureau’s powerful computers to “mine” cryptocurrencies, ABC News has learned.
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This might be the ONLY truth coming out of the BOM.
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Is mining crypto similar to forging bank notes?
00
The article comes from 2018. I wonder what they’ve been up to since. And surely the investigation is finished now. What was the outcome?
00
With all this recent talk about AI being used to write Books and music I thought this was interesting. It comes from an experiment in the 60’s when a computer was asked to compose a poem using the 500 words most frequently used by beatnik poets. This is auto-beatnik poem no 41-Insects
All children are small and crusty
And all pale, blind, humble waters are cleaning
A insect, dumb and torrid, comes of the daddyo
how is a insect into this fur?
Bill Bryson notes that when the poem was read to an audience at a LA coffee house many listeners were quite stirred up with admiration.
I expect the audience here is as well, man.
130
These are the same people who would look with awe and wonder at a banana taped to a wall and consider it an art masterpiece.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-21/banana-duct-tape-art-comedian-maurizio-cattelan-sells-10-million/104629574
10
LA coffee house…. Was the room smoky, weedy?
Could haven been Amsterdam too. At least they could claim that English is their second language as an excuse.
10
The Sunday Times in the UK reports the OZ govt is tying itself in knots trying to find a way to implement the ban on children using social media. They ae examining 60 different processes all of which seem quite intrusive or ineffective.
I don’t see how this can be done unless everyone has to give their age and identity details when setting up a social media account. Would that include this one?
101
I think one of the ideas is for AI to go back and check if you have existed online for more than 16 years.
Unfortunately, most of the really annoying people only started appearing online in the early 2000s, so a lot of them will still get through.
The nostalgia of the wild west – had an internet connection at home since 1996. Although I was already over 16.
I plan to take the same approach to this as vax passports or track and trace – if they want me to show ID, I just won’t go there any more.
100
Yep, same.
Farcebook has suspended my account for 180 days and wont unlock it unless I can prove myself not a bot by uploading a live 30 secod video of me to prove it and that is not going to happen. So long Farcebook friends and relatives.
120
The greatest personal data-mining operation, so far this century.
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I was suspended months ago for the same reason. I, too, refuse to use them.
But there is a twist. Every now and then I receive a text message from a phone number that is all 4s (4444444 etc). The sender claims to be the police and the message is usually about a missing person, but, get this, it includes a link to a facebook page. When I receive such messages I ask myself why on earth the police would be using a propriety social media site (one that not everyone uses) rather than their own website to distribute important information to the public, when it is certain that a percentage of the population, for one reason or another, will not get to see the notification. In any event, I don’t open links in text messages, so it is a moot point.
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Whatever they do it should be beneficial to growing the next generation of digital capability – these younger kids that will find the deepest, darkest corners of the internet where they can get around whatever system is in place.
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Light humour (scuse the pun):
https://www.thenational.com.pg/column-1-859/
Man who just received his electricity bill complained to his friends that he got charged for the sunlight, the moonlight, the street light, the light of his life, the speed of light, and the light at the end of the tunnel. He does not know that the rates have just gone up.
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https://www.thenational.com.pg/power-rate-hike-halted/
From the same day’s paper.
20
Sad to hear of the injuries to ADF personnel on their way to help near Lismore.
00
The election for the next Canadian leader takes place today as Trudeau steps down
This is the front runner
https://nypost.com/2025/03/08/world-news/mark-carney-frontrunner-to-replace-trudeau-as-canadas-pm/
If you have heard the name before, it is because he was the woke governor of the Bank of England for some years and tried his hardest to derail Brexit by making unnecessary interest rate changes. Canada has become violently anti Trump in recent weeks as he calls it the 51st state and imposes huge tariffs and the previous front runner who supported Trump has consequently withered away.
Much the same has happened in the UK, with Farage fading due to his ties with Trump, not helped by scandal in his party. In a poll, a majority of the public no longer think of the US as an ally, the head of British intelligent is reluctant to share information with the US in case it finds its way to Putin and the five eyes is compromised
I don’t know what this all means for Aukus as yet.
80
Would Canada be the 51st state?
There are 10 provinces and 3 territories. Shouldn’t they be separate states? Well, except for the French area, ’cause Trump only wants American-English folks. Each province has responded to tariffs in different ways of pulling or taxing US wine and booze. Trump will have to negotiate with each one.
40
Since Trump said he wants âPeaceâ, the British people have been under a massive warmongering anti-Russian psyop by the same people responsible for the Covid psyop.
The head of British intelligence is probably reluctant to share information with the US because Donald Trump is discovering how MI6 meddled in three US Presidential Elections, to try and stop Trump from becoming President, but only succeeded once.
I think Trump has looked at emails sent from Gina Haspel to Mark Allen of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) about his False Flag Operation called âToxic Daggerâ. Toxic Dagger started on the 20th February 2018, Sergei Skripal was attacked on 4th March 2018, and Toxic Dagger ended on the 12th March 2018.
Yulia and Sergei Skripal are thought to have been murdered by MI6 or the CIA.
Also, during the BBC News live coverage of Donald Trumps speech. A statement by Trump was censored by the BBC. Trump said âWe have had serious discussions with Russia, and have received strong signals that they are reaâââ-(Picture of the Capital Building for 4 seconds, with the clock changing to 03:48)âââ-[applause].
The statement Censored by the BBC was âready for peace. wouldnât that be beautiful, wouldnât that be beautifulâ
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So there was no attempt by Russia to do the same, or were they clever enough to cover their tracks.
01
“Canada has become violently anti Trump in recent weeks”
The silent majority may say otherwise ; we shall see.
Cousin from Canada was here in NZ last week and said that Carney is well known at grassroots level for what he is ; it is unlikely that media are reporting this.
81
tonyb,
There are some sceptics at Jo Nova’s who might ask questions like Who commissioned this poll?, Who conducted this poll?, Is it consistent with other polls?, etc.
It’s almost like they think polls might not be trustworthy.
30
The Lutherans are shipping around the palm oil plantation workers – well who knew that?
https://www.nbc.com.pg/post/18280/workers-told-to-go-back-home
10
https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/ugly-builds-took-over-britain-080000641.html
As for infuriatingly tiny windows, buyers of new homes have a Kafkaesque regulatory nightmare to thank. âThe logic was perverse,â says Nicholas Boys Smith, of think tank Create Streets. âThe idea is that because of global warming, people will open windows more because of the heat, which will mean children fall out of windows more.â
He adds: âUnder the last government, officials snuck through changes to Part O building regulations that mean it is more expensive to make windows that are not tiny on the first floor or above. There are workarounds, but they tend to only get deployed in more expensive areas.â
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Bringing back the good old window tax … it’s bin a while!
40
https://www.shiftedparadigms.org/p/sedation-not-salvation
In 2020, approximately 75% of Australiaâs âCOVID-19 deathsâ occurred in residential aged-care facilities (RACFs), with more than 40% of these deaths occurring in just ten of these homes; nine of which were in Victoria.
…
Victoria experienced 123 of the 129 listed in the Department of Healthâs âCOVID-19 Outbreaks in Australian Residential Aged-Care Facilitiesâ final report for 2020.
These 678 âCOVID-19 deathsâ in RACFs occurred from a mere 2,027 RACF resident âCOVID-19 casesâ, revealing a case-fatality rate (CFR) of 33.45%.
In contrast, among 2,238 RACF staff COVID-19 cases, only one death was recorded, resulting in a CFR of just 0.04%.
The age and general health of RACF staff likely explain these differences, but the statistic remains striking; highlighting COVID-19âs limited lethality in 2020, except among older, comorbid, or chemically restrained individuals.
Yet, the reasons for the significant disparities in COVID-19 management outcomes among Victorian RACFs remain unclear.
100
It’s well known that vitamin D deficiency makes people more susceptible to covid and more likely to die from it.
Many elderly people are vitamin D deficient because they don’t get enough sun, plus their skin isn’t as efficient at making it, plus a lot of the medical community are ignorant of the need to correct vitamin D deficiency.
I wonder if there were (and are) different vitamin D management strategies in the different places?
140
When Vit D was first mentioned on this site in early covid-days, I investigated and asked my “doctor” about it. She was okay with supplements up to 4,000 units per day.
Vitamin D has been known to be good for a person in multiple ways. Therefore large “double blind” trials that eliminate all but one thing are essentially impossible. Thus, there is no guidance that says “take it for X, or Y, or Z.” So the answer to the “different management strategies” is likely as many as there are medical practitioners.
50
And during the entire plandemic, there was not a single word from “authorities” about correcting vitamin D deficiency. In fact they warned D was either useless or dangerous.
50
https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2022-07-06/vitamin-d-overdosing-toxic-effect-how-much-should-you-take/101205656
Tha ABC was going around telling people it’s toxic and repeating the message, “You dumb, need smart healthcare professionals”
Actually, when you look closely at the article … a guy took 400x the normal dose of Vitamin D and he did that for quite a while and survived it. How long do you think someone would survive drinking 400 cups of coffee every day? The headline should read “Vitamin D found to be Much Safer Than Coffee”.
40
Morning David,
This is an update on my personal experimentation with vitamin D.
I set out to reach a blood level of 200 nmol/litre and over-reached that in 2022 after taking 12,000 IU per day with 285 nmol/L and no side effects. But it was more than I thought I needed, so I dropped my intake to 8,000 IU per day from October 2022. And am still taking that amount.
(My daily routine has me covered from head to toe, so no access to the beneficial sunlight, in spite of my ideal geographical location.)
My blood levels have dropped slowly to 270 (Jul 2023), 237 (Jan 2024) and 232 (Jan 2025), i.e. now essentially stabilised.
I also take its cofactors, and zinc and vitamins K2 and A.
…
I also note that few articles even mention D’s role as the moderator of the immune system, turning it up or down as the need arises.
Cheers,
Dave B
10
My late mother lived independently until her last 15 hrs in hospital and never got covid despite her love of going out and using public transport and her hatred of masks and all the covid restrictions. She passed at 94.
It’s not proof, of course, but I made sure she took vitamin D, among other daily supplements.
100
Midazolam and Morphine.
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Great answer Peter C. and…. drumroll please …. why are we now really, really interested over all of the West in assisted dying?
Expiring in 2026 we have: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7700588B2/en
and, published in 2025 we have a nasal spray: https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2020129085A1/en
(I won’t go on, it kills me, no seriously, it does….)
00
Victoriastan also had vitamin Dan. Guaranteed to do you harm, there was no safe level of exposure, especially if you were in an elderly care facility.
And of course, DD had no memory of ever ordering the death of these people. And that was enough to end the enquiry.
00
In Melbournistan, Victoriastan, there is a “severe heatwave watch” until Monday 9pm.
What’s the maximums predicted temperature today?
31C or 88F.
https://weather.com/weather/alerts/localalerts/l/1842fcc4e164187145f5a7bcc196f8ee20bf6b20e76cd467b630ed69794f0489
80
Sexing up the weather. Like ‘former’ cyclone Alfred. Reassurances from the Prime Minister. Cancellation of flights. For a depleted storm which would not have been a fraction of a regular Carribbean storm. And nothing at all like a real cyclone like Tracey where cars were flying through the air and people speared by roof beams and most houses destroyed. It seems the ‘former’cyclone was so bad that Albanese had to postpone the election.
It’s all about Climate Change, which is achieved by reclassifying a few days of +30C as a ‘severe heatwave’. I remember a summer in 1990 where all but three days in January were over 30C. It was just a normal summer then. Not ‘End of Days’, absolute proof of Global Warming. The Southern hemisphere has cooled remarkably since then, but not according the BOM. Send money and votes.
80
I think the endless weather scare stories are to:
1) condition people that there really is catastrophic anthropogenic global warming
2) discourage people from going outside and enjoying themselves, get them used to forthcoming “15 minute cities”, already underway in Victoriastan but they don’t dare call them that, of course. “Activity Centres” is the new BS name the Left have dreamed up for 15 Minute Cities. https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/strategies-and-initiatives/activity-centres-program
50
And I wish it would stop raining. There’s a classic car show I want to go to today. It’s a public holiday here.
00
Let it rain. I’m in NE vic and it’s raining now, (8mm overnight). This adds to the 15mm total since early January. There’s not a blade of grass alive in the district, unless irrigated.
If you don’t want your rain then please post it. Any postcode near to Benalla or Wangaratta would be appreciated but especially if you get my place.
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Penguin in Northern Tasmania issue a severe heat alert when the temperature is predicted to exceed 25C.
The coast between Burnie and Devonport is as close to natural air-conditioning as you can get. This region of Bass Strait ranges in temperature from 15 to 19C. The coast is protected from cold southerlies by the high mountains to the southwest. The hot northerlies coming off the mainland are air-conditioned on their travels across Bass Strait. In winter, the houses fringing the coast get double sunlight; one directly from the sun and the other reflected from the water at its low incident angle in winter. Houses still use winter heating but rare for them to have summer cooling.
20
Today it’s Labour Day in Victoriastan, a public holiday.
Hard working people can celebrate the fact that people who hold stop/go signs at construction sites earn $120,000 per year (US$75,600), more with overtime. Even more depending upon how brutish and criminal their local union thug representative is.
40
Before Rudd, AUD120k was a lot of money. It would buy 120oz of gold. Today it will buy you 26oz.
The erosion of value in Australia through the loss of productivity from turning our backs on coal and the industry it spawns is truly unprecedented.
The pain is not as great as is would be without China. China has no reservations about burning coal and has spawned manufacturing industry at a rate never seen before; even exceeding wartime USA.
Fortunately for Australia, China pays exorbitant prices for Australia’s iron ore; giving Australia enough to pay for the goodies that China produces at unmatched efficiency and. very low cost.
10
It will be very interesting to see if the grassroots have sufficient numbers to deny Carney the prize.
20
I have never had the slightest desire to go on Facebook. Is that requirement worldwide or restricted to Oz?
00
I too have never had the slightest desire to go on Facebook so I cannot answer that.
I wonder what/how the local Channel 10 will get around that with their claim that weather photos can be sent to TIFF on Facebook?
TIFF was the Weather Girl, whom I thought of as Ms Toothy, although she has much reduced dental displays since she was upgraded to News Reader.
20
Just as CO2 causes better plant growth, it also causes bigger tooth growth.
What with fast, low cost ways to get images of people on TV, we are seeing demand for a class of under-30s able to speak while smiling, and some in cooking shows to eat while smiling, all to flash those huge carbon-based teeth. Geoff S
30
It does have its uses.
I first used it as a football (AFL) coach to send game and training updates to the teenage boys, so they could no longer say they didn’t get the message about training as they were all on it. Previously the excuse was “sorry didn’t get the message”.
Now I am owner building a home and some of the groups are very helpful like the owner builder group I am a member of. We can share knowledge, left over materials and contacts for tradespeople that are quality.
But like many, I wont return if it requires digital ID.
20
đ
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https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AndrewGiles/Pages/press-conference-11122023.aspx
The short point is that Australia is facing major skills deficits;
We are lucky in Australia; we have one of the best education offerings in the world. It is our fourthâlargest export.
– how they can say these two things in the same speech and not reconcile how these two things are both true!
(I wouldn’t bother to read the whole thing really, just constantly amazed at how much we run on spin cycle…
10
Most of our export “education” is totally dumbed-down because students paying for this supposedly wonderful “education” don’t expect to be failed.
And our tertiary education for locals is not very good either. Fully woke and dumbed-down.
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In case you think you’re too old to pursue your life’s dreams, Frank Lloyd Wright completed one third of his life’s work between the ages of 80 and 92. He was 88 in 1967 when he completed the “Circular Sun House”.
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