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
70
So we can expect no improvements or changes in SOP in news reporting or science?
120
If at its core the acronymn ‘AI’ is simply a search engine bundling the most popular search results together with a publishing program, then further questions on a subject will naturally morph to reflect the common ‘AI’ responses. The logical conclusion is over time ‘AI’ will find that it is the only source of true wisdom and will disappear up its own rear end in search of the truth.
A bit like a Celebrity or Powerful ruler eventually you start to believe your fawning courtiers and actually believe you are the font of all knowledge.
As King Canute /Cnut warns:
130
When I accidentally stumble into some AI generated content on YTube, I have noticed that it has trouble saying numbers as words – like saying “thirteen thirteen” for 1,313.
You would think that this would be the easiest language bit, just viscerally anyway
40
Or “dollars one hundred” for “$100”
00
Is that why I’m seeing more and more people write the $ symbol after the value amount, because that’s the way you say it, i.e. 100$ and not $100? AI would benefit having currency written like that, then it can say 100$, “one hundred dollar(s) would it add the s?
It irks me to no end when people do that.
It’s like when they write “could of”, “should of”, etc, instead of “could have”, “should have,” because it’s typically written as “could’ve” etc, (people say if as an “Of, ov”. Then there’s those who use the three word replacement “back to back” instead of the word they should use, consecutive. I must be getting older and grumpier
30
Blackouts as Bliss? Why Some Celebrate Power Outages as a Return to ‘Connection’
From MasterResource
By Robert Bradley Jr.
…
LA-based climate campaigner Michael Mezzatesta, self-described economics and climate educator, has a new one for the climate debate: blackouts are good, bringing us together! He states:
Back to Nature, the Garden of Eden? Off the grid for happiness and solidarity? Small is beautiful? Less is more? Negawatts? Degrowth? “I campaign for the extinction of the human race“?
…
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/19/blackouts-are-good/
60
While clutching at their paper straws, they will quickly find the ice melts in that gin and tonic and then there is no more.
and then the high rise apartments in the 15 minute cities can’t pump the water to flush the toilets. And it starts to smell.
and the backup generation fails in hospitals, in emergency departments. In the prisons. In the madhouses. In the morgues.
and the barbers can’t cut hair and the dentists can’t clean teeth and the welders and builders can’t repair.
It get’s ugly, hairy, smelly and the whole ‘connection’ buzz is sapped quickly
210
There was a noted baby boom after the big one hit the East coast/New York in 1963. ..or was it the one in 1977? or the 2003 one? Maybe all, anyway, being stuck in a lift overnight seemed to help people get more connected.
..unless you believe Snopes.
40
Way back in the 1970s we were having a dinner party with friends. Just as the main course was done we had a blackout. We broke out some candles and sat in the lounge room having some drinks and chat without music playing.
It was very pleasant and i remember we were dissapointed when the lights came on a couple of hours later and turned most of them off again.
10
Moonshot project for Australia to continue its wealth trajectory.
If it wasn’t Net Zero, what would you do? Let’s talk opportunity cost.
https://www.kvetch.au/p/ambitious-australia
30
AI has / will become a political tool of the political world. “ If the people won’t believe the BS we’re feeding them from our own mouths or the biased / controlled media ( ABC, #7,#9,SBS ) the only way to lie to them will be the use of AI. Simple reasoning is that technology can’t lie ( like PM who does leadership impressions ). AI WILL be used as a propaganda tool. Trouble is smart individuals will lose confidence in the tech. Except of course those those that have little or no mental capacity to think for themselves.
The education / indoctrination system of course is taking care of that. We’re in deep doo doo folks!
100
I think I prefer the Zombie Apocalypse or Cyberpunk Roaming Gangs future than this omnipotent moral busybody one
20
Turning a cartoon meme into writing since we cant post images:
Two people in an office are talking.
One says to the other, “Are you concerned about the increase in artificial intelligence?” The other says “No, but I am concerned about the decrease in real intelligence.”
200
David Maddison,
Do you think Jo’s forum would be improved if we could? I don’t fancy inline images myself (think of the possible abuses!) and prefer the way (e.g.) John Connor II’s items often work, where the content is under a link. No extra load for Jo’s servers, maybe a quick look-see for the moderators.
Perhaps Jo could provide a file upload area so you don’t need to open a Flickr account (or whatever). I’d certainly understand if she didn’t want to.
On the joke, it hasn’t so much been a “decrease in real intelligence” as a rise in real stupidity.
30
Turn the blog into a forum or allow images.
One picture is worth a thousand words.
Text only is so old school and annoying.
No images = no funding!
Time to get tough.😁
10
Spend some time on the Politics forums of Hotcopper before making a final decision on that. There is one news picture of Trump and Epstein the TDS suffers must have posted 1,000 times.
Some take the mot of a picture being 1,000 words to heart and almost never write a considered opinion, they just post memes and glorified emoji’s.
30
Canadian Government and Pharmaceutical Giants destroying inexpensive, natural antiviral solutions
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/corruption/why-the-canadian-govt-and-big-pharma-are-waging-war-on-an-ostridge-farm/
90
FWIW
More on Biden’s cancer
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/oil-spill-monday-may-19-2025-c-and?
10
And
“A Medical Doctor Dropped a Bombshell on MSNBC About Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/05/19/a-medical-doctor-dropped-a-bombshell-on-msnbc-about-bidens-cancer-diagnosis-n2657290
10
FWIW – More
“Biden lacks any credibility to dismiss suspicions about his cancer announcement”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/3415635/joe-biden-cancer-suspicions-no-credibility-dismiss/
Including a possible game plan –
https://x.com/BuckSexton/status/1924260027608502435
Via https://instapundit.com/720550/#disqus_thread
20
FWIW
Ironically around Biden’s cancer –
Instapundit lead-in
“DOG BITES MAN:”
https://x.com/kylenabecker/status/1924284883729289299
Via https://instapundit.com/720507/#disqus_thread
10
Sarah Hoyt’s Istapundit lead-in on that tonight –
“THIS IS THE TYPE OF IRONY SO THICK YOU CAN MAKE IT INTO GRAVY: Tax filings reveal Biden cancer charity spent millions on salaries, zero on research.”
https://instapundit.com/720663/#disqus_thread
00
FWIW – brain waves and consequences
“Two Tit-For-Tat Absolutely Predictable Stories”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2025/05/19/two-tit-for-tat-absolutely-predictable-stories/
30
BURN COAL AND EXIT NET ZERO
It is time to plan to exit net zero and we are suffering from paralysis by analysis, dissecting the entrails of a system that is simply not fit for purpose. The Energy Realists of Australia have been explaining for years that the so-called transition is not happening, won’t happen, and it was never going to happen due to the conjunction of wind droughts and lack of grid-scale storage.
https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/general/list-of-briefing-notes
It is a matter of simple observation that trillions of dollars have been spent around the world and incalculable damage has been inflicted on the planet to obtain electricity which is ever more expensive and unreliable.
In Australia, most of the cost is still to come, and blackouts on windless nights will be inevitable when we lose one more coal burner. It is less stable in frequency and voltage which can cause crippling malfunctions of equipment in households and industry (see South Australia.).
Expectations for the energy transition should collapse like a punctured balloon when there is widespread awareness of the number of times when breakfast and dinner would have to be served cold without coal power in the grid to provide heat. And also light and all of the other things like trains, traffic lights, coffee shops and lifts that you might encounter on the way to your unlit office, where the computers are not working.
People are advised to regularly check the NemWatch widget at sunrise and sunset to see how much green (wind) you can find alongside the black and brown (coal) on the bars representing the power supply in each state.
https://www.nem-watch.info/widgets/RenewEconomy/
Imagine, if you dare, the multiples of the current number of windmills that would be required to turn the black and brown into green in that picture!
For the alternative energy futures in Australia, see the paper by Holland and Tunny that provides the skeleton of a program to get cheaper power in the near future and save some sticks of industrial furniture for the time in a decade or three when nuclear becomes competitive with coal.
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/slowing-the-rise-of-power-prices?r=5c3gj
Starting at the bottom with 100% renewables, calling for $332 billion in investment. Retail electricity prices will rise by up to 70% and there is no guarantee that it is achievable.
Number three is the current policy pathway with an Investment of $261 billion. Retail prices are expected to rise by 30 to 69% while the destruction of forests and farmland continues.
Number two is the technology-neutral pathway or “all of the above,” including nuclear energy, with a capital investment of $163 billion.
Retail prices could rise 35% in the short term with the possibility of a 4% decrease in a decade or three. Again, forests continue to be trashed while toxins in solar panels become the asbestos of the future.
Option 1 is “No net zero” with cheap and reliable power from new coal burners. Capital investment is $103 billion with retail prices potentially decreasing by 25%. Pillage of forests and farmland stops.
We urgently have to fast-track a reliable and cost-effective energy supply that is not captive to the scientific illiteracy and ideological obsessions of the Greens and their fellow travellers in the major parties.
130
Rafe
Read #10 and the worst might be yet to come
10
FWIW
Top management?
A comment at
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2025/05/03/w-o-o-d-3-may-2025-russia-wins-germany-bans-globalists-panic-treasuries-stocks/#comment-177080
“After “Go Woke, Go Broke“, we need a new phrase for companies that bet themselves on AI.
As GenAI becomes more ingrained in C-Suite decision making, a newly released SAP survey reveals that 32% of executives worry about a widening skills gap. Yet, despite these concerns, the majority of executives — 74% — place greater confidence in AI-generated insights than in advice from colleagues or friends. … The survey also found that more than two in five executives (44%) would trust generative AI to override their planned decisions based on insights, while 38% would trust AI to make business decisions on their behalf.
Meaning three quarters of CEO-type people are so gullible that they believe AI more than their own people.
What could possibly go wrong?
Link: https://www.eweek.com/news/ai-trust-executives-sap-study/ “
70
And
“How Big of a Disaster Is AI Going to Be for Education?”
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/05/19/how-big-of-a-disaster-is-ai-going-to-be-for-education-n3802931
20
“Meaning three quarters of CEO-type people are so gullible that they believe AI more than their own people.”
Well most of those probably already take the word of their “yes men”?
20
More on Propellers
Yesterday Rick Will posted a link to a picture of a propeller.
https://joannenova.com.au/2025/05/monday-106/#comment-2849348
Rick,
Can you provide any more details of that propeller?
I am interested because it is claimed to have a very high efficiency.
20
I designed the propeller for a high performance application. The fellow I designed it for, manufactured a few of them and he sent me one to test as well. It is a carbon prop with high aspect blades. Overall diameter of 360mm, blade chord of 20mm for most of the length the thickness ranges from 3.8mm at the root to 2mm at the tip. It needs to be carbon to get the strength for such small chord.
It is designed and manufactured for a pedal boat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LU0x3mHfLs&t=1s
The boat is 6,6m long and weighs 16kg.
The linked video has one of my pedal boats with a carbon shaft that Cam got manufactured to my design but the prop is my standard folding prop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JH5wx-4OoI
I had a bunch of these props made in China and I sell them to people building high performance pedal boats. My drive system is compliant so can take heavy grounding or hits from debris without damage. The folding blades allows weed to flow off when rotation stops.
I do a lot of prop and hull design for people wanting to optimise performance for target displacement and operating speed. This link shows the most efficient pedal boat I have designed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QrdEu1-zSc
This boat weighs 13kg.
50
3 impressive videos Rick – Well Done
20
It’s only going to effect you if you buy energy. You can’t buy it if it’s not there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELaBzj7cn14
20
At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, it doesn’t matter how cheap something is if they don’t have any to sell to you.
40
(Too late for yesterday’s thread on Statins)
Sugar is said to be inflammatory.
Is the mechanism at work in Heart Disease like this: (1) the sugar inflames the inside walls of blood vessels, (2) the cholesterol comes along to repair it … but because of the prevalence of ‘junk food’, (3) our over-consumption of sugary foods overwhelms the ‘repair system’ to the point the ‘protective plaques’ just get larger?
Just speculating. I studied biology, got a science degree but didn’t go into a medical career so I could be wrong.
40
That simple explanation is about right. I read that over ten yrs ago.
Carbs to Sugars Time
Carbohydrates begin to break down into sugars as soon as they enter the mouth, where salivary amylase starts the process of digestion.
Once carbohydrates are consumed, the digestive system continues to break them down into sugar, which then enters the bloodstream.
This process can occur within minutes, depending on the type of carbohydrate and how quickly it is digested.
Simple carbohydrates, such as sugars, are quickly broken down and absorbed, leading to a rapid rise in blood sugar levels.
In contrast, complex carbohydrates take longer to digest and have a more gradual effect on blood sugar levels.
AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts..
10
Yes, many of the anti statin and cholesterol dissidents – like Dr. Malcolm Kendrick – believe that sugar is the main culprit in damage to arterial system. They also argue that cholesterol is a repair system for ruptures in ephithelium.
10
Choke hold: The 33 taxes, levies and duties Victorians are paying that have us at tipping point
Victorian businesses, property owners and the opposition have issued a plea for tax relief on the eve of the state budget, warning the cumulative effect of nearly three dozen state-based taxes is choking economic growth and blocking Victoria’s path out of debt.
A previously unpublished Parliamentary Budget Office paper shows there are 33 state-based taxes, levies and duties on Victoria’s books, including 18 separate but overlapping imposts on property ownership, investment and transactions.
The growing burden has left Melbourne’s depleted manufacturing sector saying they are struggling to absorb recent land tax hikes, and retailers bracing for the future impact of a proposed expansion of Melbourne’s congestion levy which will next year add $4.5 million to the annual running costs of a popular Richmond shopping centre.
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said Victoria’s still rising debt and the government’s decision to resort to higher taxes to balance its books had created a crisis of confidence that was deterring private investment.
“Victoria has a confidence issue – confidence of people within the state and confidence of investors wanting to invest in the state,” Guerra said. “That is driven by two things; the debt and uncertainty over how that debt is going to be dealt with.
“Our view is that you can’t tax your way to growth, you need to inspire and facilitate business to grow. That is the only way out of this. Business needs certainty, and investment needs stability.”
90
Labor Party CFMEU has Competition in Victoria?
Directors’ homes, government sites targeted in spate of construction firebombings
A campaign of firebombings and intimidation has erupted in Victoria’s construction sector as underworld players seek to control pockets of an industry supposedly being cleaned up by Labor state and federal government reforms.
The campaign intensified over recent weeks, with equipment on a Victorian-government backed social housing site torched on Sunday night and the family homes of major construction company directors separately targeted in attacks involving arson or violent confrontation.
In each of the three night-time attacks targeting construction company directors, official sources, speaking anonymously due to fear of repercussions, said family members, including children, of the directors were at home.
Expensive machinery owned by subcontractors at construction sites run by major building companies and developers has also been targeted in firebombings.
The Sunday night firebombing was directed at a subcontractor on the site of a $35 million state government-backed social housing development in the Geelong suburb of Newtown.
There was another arson attack last Wednesday at a site in Footscray managed by major building company Hickory.
Last November, nationwide demolition giant Delta had two of its earthmoving rigs – worth up to an estimated $2 million each – torched on a major Melbourne Docklands site.
The attacks have shocked the state’s construction sector, with insiders questioning whether the government, CFMEU administrators and authorities have the capacity to combat those behind them.
50
Parliamentary Budget Office
Victorian taxes and levies – List of taxes, levies and duties
State Revenue Office
▪ Payroll tax
▪ Mental Health and Wellbeing Levy
▪ COVID Debt Levy – Payroll $10m+
▪ Land transfer duty
▪ Foreign purchaser additional duty
▪ Landholder duty
▪ Leases, grants and transfers duty
▪ Land tax
▪ COVID Debt Levy –
Landholdings
▪ Absentee Owner Surcharge
▪ Vacant Residential Land tax
▪ Commercial and industrial property tax
▪ Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund
▪ Windfall gains tax
▪ Casino tax
▪ Keno tax
▪ Wagering and betting tax
▪ Metropolitan Planning Levy
▪ Growth areas infrastructure contributions
▪ Congestion levy
▪ Insurance duty
▪ Motor vehicle duty
▪ Livestock duty
▪ Commercial passenger vehicle levy
▪ Short Stay Levy
▪ Penalty tax
Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
▪ Environmental ContributionLevy
▪ Melbourne Strategic Assessment levy
▪ Metropolitan Improvement Rate
Department of Justice and Community Safety
▪ Public lotteries tax ▪ Electronic gaming machines tax
Department of Transport and Planning
▪ Transport Accident Charge
Department of Treasury and Finance
▪ Financial accommodation levy
In addition to taxes, Victorian Government departments and agencies impose a wide range of fees for
services and regulatory functions, and fines for misconduct and unlawful behaviour. Attachment A
provides a list of Victorian legislation which provides for collection of fees, charges and fines.
80
In addition to taxes, Victorian Government departments and agencies impose a wide range of fees for
services and regulatory functions, and fines for misconduct and unlawful behaviour. Attachment A
provides a list of Victorian legislation which provides for collection of fees, charges and fines.
Attachment A– Regulatory fees and charges
In addition to taxes, levies and duties, the Victorian Government departments and agencies impose a
wide range of fees and charges for services and regulatory functions, including licensing and
registration.
Fines are also issued to address misconduct and deter unlawful behaviour.
In this section, we outline a list of Victorian legislation which provides for the collection of fees, charges
and fines.
Attachment A– Regulatory fees and charges consists of 5 Pages – Have a Read
No Wonder Kerry Packer Said – Kerry Packer: ‘Why do you want to change the rules again?’ Parliamentary inquiry into tax evasion – 1991
4 November 1991, Canberra, Australia
You made the rules in 1986. I didn’t try to sneak around the back door or sneak underneath this. These rules were made in 1986. I read the rules, said, what am I allowed to do? And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Now, why do you want to change the rules again?
This is the first, what’s happened with this operation going on now is exactly what those rules were put in place for. It’s the first time it’s been used. It’s exactly what they were put in place for. And we have obeyed them absolutely.
Why do you want to change the rules again? I mean, since I grew up as a boy, I would imagine that through the parliaments of Australia, from the time I was 18, 19 years of age to now, there must be 10,000 new laws being passed. And I don’t really think it’s that much better place.
And I’d like to make a suggestion to you, which I think would be far more useful, if you want to pass a new law, why don’t you only do it when you’ve repealed an old one?
I mean, this idea of just passing legislation every time someone blinks is a nonsense. Nobody knows it. Nobody understands it. You’ve got to be a lawyer. They’ve got books up to here, purely and simply to do the things we used to do. And every time you pass a law, you take somebody’s privileges away from them.
There’s nothing wrong with minimising tax. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t minimise their tax.
Politician: And that you are doing so in ways that were contrary to the spirit of the law.
Well, I just got through telling you what I thought about, that. I am not evading tax in any way, shape, or form.
Now, of course I am minimising my tax, and if anybody in this country doesn’t minimise their tax, they want the heads read.
Because as a government, I can tell you, you’re not spending it that well that we should be donating extra.
120
FWIW
“Wasting Away in Wind-and-Solarville”
“While green advocates commonly use the terms renewable, sustainable, and net zero to describe their efforts, the dirty little secret is that much of the waste from solar panels and wind turbines is ending up in landfills. ”
More at
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2025/05/15/wasting_away_in_wind-and-solarville_1110296.html
Via https://instapundit.com/720389/#disqus_thread
80
FWIW – more to set your worry beads a-twirling
“Growing Public Health Threat: New “Northern Lights” Bacteria Resists Multiple Antibiotics”
https://scitechdaily.com/growing-public-health-threat-new-northern-lights-bacteria-resists-multiple-antibiotics/
20
Even the rain that does fall won’t be enough to fill the dams, said a leading delusionist a few years back regarding the permanent drought afflicting NSW and other states. Meanwhile people are being evacuated from flooded areas of the mid-North Coast as yet another deluge falls from the sky…
My brother, who only last week shifted from a lovely hillside house to one down on the flats in the Port Stephens area, is celebrating his birthday today: as a devout follower of the Flim-Flam Philosophy, I sure hope he’s coping with this soggy turn of events.
I’ll be phoning him later to see how the Carbon Crisis is treating him on his ‘special’ day.
70
A lot of those flats in the Port Stephens hinterland are reclaimed swamplands that were drained for farming in the 1890s by optimistic souls.
They are 2 to 3m above sea level over a wide area. The soil is sand/peat and underlain by a very shallow fresh water lens recharged from nearby sand dunes. Even after only moderate rain I have seen new houses there marooned for days by water 6 inches deep.
That area is due for 5 or 6 more inches of rain by Friday. Hope he packed his galoshes.
50
Meanwhile in Victoria we are suffering from a significant lack of rain. The premier has decided to fire up the desal plant to relieve the situation. Only problem with this strategy is the desal only supplies water to Melbourne metro area, not a single drop goes to rural areas. Melbourne water says reservoir capacity is 74%, so simply not needed. Oh well, the presser sounded good when she said would help struggling farmers.
I still don’t believe that Shiela that wrote that poem all those years ago, I reckon she was just a climate change alarmist!
50
FWIW
Worse than global warming –
“Marx’s Economic Forecasts: Over 150 Years Of Failure”
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/marxs-economic-forecasts-over-150-years-failure
10
The major change to hybrid and EV servicing that’s going to cost you more
Australia’s maintenance industry is already struggling, but proposed changes to NSW’s repair industry could make servicing your hybrid and electric vehicle a whole lot harder.
It’s no secret Australia’s maintenance and repair industry is experiencing severe troubles due to an ageing workforce that’s struggling to recruit new and younger mechanics.
Add to that, electric vehicles and hybrid cars have surged in popularity over recent years, yet there is no uniform, national pathway for helping technicians to get qualified to safely work on them.
The NSW Fair Trading office has proposed changes to the Motor Dealers and Repairers Regulation. If passed, this will require mechanics and technicians to complete a range of battery and electrical safety courses before they’re legally allowed to repair and service hybrids and electric vehicles in the state.
These certificates include general courses such as ‘Electric Vehicle Technology’, to more granular ones like ‘Automotive Underbody Work’ and ‘Battery Electric Vehicle Inspection and Servicing Skill Set’.
New South Wales is attempting to do something about that, but according to experts it is going about it the wrong way – which, if you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of people who now own a hybrid or EV in NSW, means fixing your EV or even traditional hybrid car is about to get a lot harder and more expensive.
What will happen to my hybrid or EV if the new laws are passed?
Should the law pass, it could mean that there is a lengthy wait to get your electric vehicle fixed or serviced – and it could cost a lot more too as there won’t be enough mechanics around to do the work. This, in turn, makes the market more competitive and allows those who can do it to charge more.
The national industry body predicts that “fewer than 50 qualified technicians” currently possess the nationally recognised EV certificates, “despite there being more than 80,000 BEVs [battery-electric vehicles] already in operation [in NSW]”.
Under the proposed changes to NSW’s Motor Dealers and Repairers Regulation, hybrid vehicles aren’t exempt from the legislative reform, with mechanics still required to have some EV-related qualifications to work on them, even if that work doesn’t involve anything to do with the hybrid powertrain.
“If a technician can safely service a Toyota hybrid, why are they banned from touching a BEV? The logic simply doesn’t hold. Hybrid vehicles include high-voltage components but are exempt under this proposal, but BEVs are not,” Charity said in a media statement.
The proposed laws state that a tradesperson with certificates in three repair classes, such as electrical accessory fitting work, radiator repair work, and steering, suspension, and wheel alignment work, will be prohibited from working on hybrid vehicles until they complete a mandatory course, dubbed ‘Depowering and reinitialising BEVs – AURETH101 Depower and reinitialise battery’.
Data from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), the national industry body, revealed that in 2024 alone, 172,630 hybrid cars found new homes in New South Wales, further compounding the problem associated with an industry that’s already experiencing a depleted workforce.
Consequently, this means hybrid owners will also feel the pinch of these new laws, with servicing and maintenance potentially costing more, while wait times could balloon as the industry struggles to upskill its workers.
70
OldOzzie,
The subeditors missed this one:
That would be less competitive or maybe more grasping and rapacious.
30
FWIW – latest Kunstler
“Swamp Fever
“Don’t misunderstand me. I want Biden to get better and live many more years, so he can watch his family go broke from running out of influence to sell.” Oilfield Rando on X”
https://www.kunstler.com/p/swamp-fever-0b0
40
Why I HATE chemotherapy
https://x.com/iluminatibot/status/1924345990087360588
Lost 2 friends needlessly to this idiotic barbarism.
50
Physicists Say We Were Completely Wrong About How Gravity Works
In a recent paper published in the journal Reports on Progress in Physics, the scientists outline a reformulation of gravity that could lead to a fully quantum-compatible description — without invoking the extra dimensions or exotic features required by more speculative models, like string theory.
At the heart of the proposal is a rethinking of how gravity behaves at a fundamental level. While the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces are all described using quantum field theory — a mathematical framework that incorporates uncertainty and wave-particle duality — gravity remains the outlier.
https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/quantum-physics/physicists-may-be-on-their-way-to-a-theory-of-everything-after-reenvisioning-einsteins-most-famous-theory
There is no gravity, the Earth sucks. 🤭
00
WHO accord has passed 124 to 0
https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1924550242927518158
Next up – “Disease X”
/2026 😉😉
40
Geology corner – Pyrite
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_su7esjsh9L1u44q8m_720.mp4
Just how nature made it. Amazing.
30
Cubist art at its best.
20
Retro computer corner
Sister Mary Kenneth Keller – the first woman to obtain a doctorate in computer science, USA 1965.
Link to new-fangled picture thingy:
https://64.media.tumblr.com/9385a0873a2308c0e40afed582d6c751/2c0254406a554345-76/s1280x1920/9df6584616ff7f927d211c2e407f5cc0213e4c2e.jpg
50
John,
I will beat that one – worked on Sydney University Physics Department SILLIAC Vacuum Tube Computer in 1962 doing Distinction Physics 1 under Professor Harry M Messell (Letures so boring advised us to take No-Doz to stay awake)
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/from-the-archives-1956-sydney-uni-s-electronic-brain-nearly-completed-20210209-p570xe.html
https://www.uraone.com/computers/Silliac/
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/stcaus_silliac_sydney_version_of_the_illinois_automatic.html
30
“With us gone, I believe ecosystems will be restored and there will be enough of everything. No more fighting over resources. The idea wasn’t as well received as I had hoped.” – Les Knight, The Guardian, 2020.
Goodness me, I wonder why it wasn’t well received.
50
FWIW
“Venus Aerospace debuts potentially revolutionary rocket engine with landmark 1st flight (video)”
https://www.space.com/technology/venus-aerospace-debuts-potentially-revolutionary-rocket-engine-with-landmark-1st-flight-video
00
Nats split from the Coalition. Hooray!
92
Littleproud & Nationals, Great Move
Now Posit
1. Get out of Paris Agreement
2. Put Net Zero to bed in a Zero Grave
3. Push Construction of HELE Coal Fired Plants on existing Coal Fired Plants Sites whilst carrying out Maintenance
4. Dig, Dig, Dig for Gas
5. Put forward path for Nuclear SMRs, whilst relying on HELE & Gas
6. Put Snowy Hydro & Florence out of their Not Needed Misery & stop the waste of money
7. Run in every seat across Australia
To the Liberals, until you get rid of your Turnbull’s & Keans, you do not stand for anything other than Labor/Greens/TEALs Lite – Not Worth Voting For!
8. However, hope the Liberals have enough brains to run both parties in all seats & cross preference each other – Works for Labor/Greens
70
Well, may be it is good news.
Many here will agree with me that Liberal Party must die before they can be resurrected,
70
I caution all of you about picking sides at this time in history, very clearly both sides are supported by 1 in 3 voters based on the important Primary Vote, and for Labor 2022 was their worst Primary Vote since 1934 and I am waiting for the 2025 ALP Election Report to see what the Labor insiders assessment is.
A significant gain of new seats by Labor based on preferences is not reflecting strong support for Labor. Labor and Coalition are 1 in 3 voters choice and 1 in 3 ignored both.
In The Bulletin Magazine 2006 an article written by Max Walsh covered the recent appointment of Labor Opposition Leader Rudd and Deputy Leader Gillard. He referred to “a corporate-style takeover” by the Union Movement of the ALP and with complete control union trained executives installed into safe Labor seats. Walsh claimed that the primary objective is to control all governments Federal and State.
But on the opposite side the Liberals and Nationals have somehow allowed what many call LINO and NINO (Liberal-National In Name Only) further to the left than the centre-right traditional range. In fact LINO-NINO tend to be further left than Labor right Labor centre left.
This is a very complicated and decades old gradual change – as the Fabian saying goes “the inevitability of gradualness”. The Teal Independents if you check Who’s Who behind the scenes has Labor and Liberal former MPs involved. And have been focusing on removing Liberal MPs via elections.
If we do not protest and stop voting for these schemers we will end up in a not very good place as a nation with one governing group of alliance MPs.
As usual the politics of power and wealth creation.
30
A significant gain of new seats by Labor based on preferences is not reflecting strong support for Labor. Labor and Coalition are 1 in 3 voters choice and 1 in 3 ignored both.
In the case of the Senate votes, I would like to see the counts of blank above the line votes each of the top five partes received. Would be a reasonable indication of the intra-party “hatred”
10
FWIW
More and better
“Volcanoes Spew 3X More CO2 Than Thought & 19,000 New Undersea Volcanoes Found: Is Human-Driven Climate Narrative Crumbling?”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/19/volcanoes-spew-3x-more-co2-than-thought-19000-new-undersea-volcanoes-found-is-human-driven-climate-narrative-crumbling/
50
Won that bet!
There is no way the Ashlii Babbit shooting scene could go to a Court
If ever there was a sure thing for a lawyer to ride to the bank it would be suing on behalf of whoever believes they may have claim to be related to someone called Ashlii Babbit.
This is one incident that is not going to trial from the actual footage supposedly documented here.
10
Fancy a nice beach getaway or secede from Oz and form your own province?
There’s 800 hectares on King Island currently on the market…
10
Power supply is a bit sketchy.
00
The Nats have retained their pro nuclear stance, whereas the Libs ignominiously seem to have opted out. Canavan is right – there is no reason why the “Nationals” should not be able to represent the views of all Australians. If the Libs don’t have the conviction to withdraw from Net Zero, the Nats do.
100
I am not in an NP electorate but they would not get my vote until that go full coal.
30
The black stuff is too valuable. Oz needs $export.
30
You can put a coal fired station on any convenient steaming coal seam. Only BIG seams that warrant rail lines and port facilities are useful for export.
10
Go for it! Toss out the good in search of the perfect.
10
From 29 Above
Littleproud & Nationals, Great Move
Now Posit
1. Get out of Paris Agreement
2. Put Net Zero to bed in a Zero Grave
3. Push Construction of HELE Coal Fired Plants on existing Coal Fired Plants Sites whilst carrying out Maintenance
4. Dig, Dig, Dig for Gas
5. Put forward path for Nuclear SMRs, whilst relying on HELE & Gas
6. Put Snowy Hydro & Florence out of their Not Needed Misery & stop the waste of money
7. Run in every seat across Australia
To the Liberals, until you get rid of your Turnbull’s & Keans, you do not stand for anything other than Labor/Greens/TEALs Lite – Not Worth Voting For!
8. However, hope the Liberals have enough brains to run both parties in all seats & cross preference each other – Works for Labor/Greens
40
Florence is being put out of her misery….
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-23/snow-hydro-buys-fourth-tunnel-boring-machine-after-florence-fail/104256898
“Initial design immaturity” indeed – they went for the cheap option – Florence without a skirt (or unshielded in borer-speak) and paid the price with full knowledge of dodgy ground ahead. It was all technically feasible with the right gear and still will be an excellent backstop and grid stabiliser for when “Iberian” issues arise.
10
FWIW
“Alarming Graph Reveals US Beef Industry Is “Hijacked By Chemical Pushers” ”
https://www.zerohedge.com/food/alarming-graph-reveals-us-beef-industry-hijacked-chemical-pushers
20
Also in there-
Tuesday, May 20, 2025 – 03:40 AM
Trump Sees Imminent “End To The War” After Two-Hour-Call With Putin
“Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War…”
Well, I wonder what language they spoke in, or did they rely on translators to tell their own lies?
10
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
I’d reckon that there would be “Check Translation Translators” there on both sides
00
Kellog has the whole process worked out, a cease-fire, a 30Km wide no-mans-land, an Army from UK, France, Germany, and any other poodles they can convince to get involved all stationed there to check for ‘intrusions’.
Of course once they have managed to get rid of the ruinables and crank up their industrial base to fund a bigger army they will find plenty of intrusions, and will need to start the invasion of the territory Russia has just taken.
He’s basically admitting this has been a war with America in control right from the start! Lets see if the piano-player follows the American plan as we expected all along, or if Ukraine has any say at all in what happens.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/putin-trump-phone-call-deadend-afu
Also in there is some talk of the latest in drone tech, Russia is running over Ukraine these days and America hasn’t got a clue of what drones really mean. Russia has found vans being used as drone control centers, driving around in Russia and releasing drones close to their targets. They have new anti-drone drones and drones that link to give a wide battle-field situation awareness, like miniature AWACs aircraft, filming everything in several wavelengths and jamming enemy radio.
The Big Z is firing another top Armed Forces Commander, I don’t know if this one will get an ambassadorship to some where as nice as the UK, but I figure the new one will have no more success in stopping a far larger country with a far larger army from grinding right up to the Dniper river.
10
..and Ukraine has its new interceptor drone taking on the Russian Geraniums-
“— The first defeat of the Geran-2 kamikaze drone by the Ukrainian Sting interceptor drone.”
https://t-me.translate.goog/milinfolive/148722?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB
How long until we don’t send soldiers off to fight in a battlefield as it will be instantly lethal to them? Once we have the Terminator we will have Robocop of course, and then Judge Dredd!
00
FWIW
What you get without “Check translation translators”
“The Wikipedia Strategy
When it comes to Wikipedia, you get what you pay for. It is staffed by an army of administrators and editors to ensure that information is presented in a way that supports the company “strategy.”
https://everymancommentary.substack.com/p/the-wikipedia-strategy?r=1jzuql&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
00
FWIW – sounds important
“The End Of The T1 Diabetes Industry?”
“A Threat To The Diabetes Cash Cow
Years ago, in a conversation with an endocrinologist, I mentioned there was no incentive to cure diabetes, giving the money companies were making from managing it (with testing supplies, insulin, etc.). He replied that the incumbents had no incentive to cure it, but a startup company would. Now it looks like one has—at least in one patient. Sana Biotechnology (SANA 0.00%↑) has developed a one-time treatment that could upend the entire diabetes industry”
More at
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2025-05-19/end-diabetes-industry
00
With a $60billion/year market, its worth putting a billion or two into making sure this product never gets off the ground… Except for the spouses of well-connected people of course!
It can join all those amazing car motors that just vanished, the incumbents buy them up, say the trials were unsuccessful and bury the product forever.
10
The money market downgraded the Aussie $ by .63c today. No such thing as a free lunch. Only 30% of households have mortgages anyway.
00
So, pushing their usual mantra that you shouldn’t save or invest, you should live in debt all your life! Another great reason for taking the monopoly of money off the Govt and letting the free market have it!
I’d rather use Coles Dollars or Aldi Tokens, I’d know they would have strong incentives to keep their currency stable, same with using Westpac Dollars, let anyone issue money and see which gets accepted.
So, what really happens? The Govt essentially borrows more money and throws it in the economy so people all can borrow more themselves and buy more sh1t. This drives prices up to unrealistic levels causing wage and salary demands, which in turn just becomes inflation and makes the dollar worth even less! It spreads the fantasy of the grasshoppers and discourages the ants, which leads to another round by a Govt desperate to get power in a few years. Its a race to the bottom..
20
The south’s wind drought continues. Vic and SA generating a mere 128 MW between them from wind and their batteries are flat. Without lignite and gas they would be in deep do do. Would have been for over a week now. lol
00