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
About the claim of a huge gold discovery in Uganda claimed in 2022.
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About 15 years ago I was involved with the construction of a gold refining plant at a gold mine in west Oz, (Boddington for those who want to look it up).
At the time, the mine operators were keen to start the plant up on ore that contained 25+ g/Tonne of gold, figuring that such ‘rich’ ore would help to get the debt associated with the CAPEX down quickly.
Break even, in those days was around 9g/Tonne. It’s probably similar now, gold has gone up but so has the wages bill as the unions got involved.
To have ore at 10,000g/Tonne, that wouldn’t be credible without gold visibly ‘oozing’ from the granite. And if a sample was found at this concentration, you knew it would be a very, very isolated incident. The kind of ore that mine managers dream of.
And dream is the key. If it sounds too good to be true….
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The ore that is currently mined at Boddington has a grade of less than 1g/t. It is economic because of the high tonnages put through the plant. The first mine commenced operation in 1987 and was designed to treat laterite ore at an initial rate of 3 mtpa. This rate was doubled during construction to “beat” the introduction of the gold tax.
A small higher grade resource was discovered and the operators developed that as an underground mine, but in general AFAIK there has been no grades mined in large amounts with grades of 25+ g/t.
It is interesting to consider that for every tonne of 1 g/t (1 part per million) ore there are 999,999 parts that are waste. All of the effort to treat and store this waste is carried out , only for the gold to end up in a bank vault!
50
Just looked up the grade of the Kalgoorlie Super Pit. 1.5 to 2.27 g/tonne.
I was told that during the depression, the huge dumps of soil extracted from the Kalgoorlie mines were re-processed using more modern methods to extract more gold.
50
But David;
with many accepting the waffle about Global Warming why shouldn’t some believe this as well?
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I wonder if anyone is upset about latest brazen insulting, maddening advertising method – repeating the same add 3-4 times within one break.
What do they want to achieve – force us to hate the advertised product, service, company? To me it is a shear idiocy but !
Even commercial TV channels stuck with “renewables are the cheapest” narrative .
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Yes, and it even worse on streaming channels .
Ironicly, the the ones repeated most are the ones ihave no idea what is being promoted ?
40
As a geo (oil & gas), living in Jakarta at the time, this brought up memories of the great Bre-X gold scam when a supposedly US$6 billion gold deposit was discovered in the jungles of Borneo. Mystery surrounds the death of the geologist Exploration Manager, Michael de Guzman, who fell, or was pushed, from a helicopter when travelling to the mine site to meet a team from mining giant Freeport-McMoRan, which was brought in by Suharto to access the deposit and manage the mine. The meeting was set up for Guzman to explain why subsequent drilling, by Freeport, had no indications of gold in the cores.
Story here from the BBC website.
The mystery of the man embroiled in a billion dollar gold scam
One thing you knew in Indonesia at the time, you did not mess with the Suharto family.
41
And yet another case of just when you thought Leftists couldn’t get any more insane, they manage to outdo themselves.
In the following video, Matt Walsh talks about how a Leftist history “teacher” defends human sacrifice by Aztecs.
https://youtu.be/Zy_ipSgTReQ
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(HUMOUR, COPIED)
I failed math so many times at school, I can’t even count.
To the guy who invented zero, thanks for nothing.
Did you hear about the mathematician who’s afraid of negative numbers? He’ll stop at nothing to avoid them.
How do mathematicians scold their children?
“If I’ve told you n times, I’ve told you n+1 times…
Never discuss infinity with a mathematician, they can go on about it forever.
She told me I was average but she was just being mean.
Who was the roundest knight in King Arthur’s court?
Sir Cumference.
Never trust an atom, they make up everything!
I told a chemistry joke once but there was no reaction.
Most people are shocked when they find out how bad I am as an electrician.
Geology rocks but Geography is where it’s at!
Are plants good at math? Only if they have square roots.
A farmer counted 196 cows in the field. But when he rounded them up, he had 200.
Early cowboys would hang lanterns on their saddles to see at night. It was the first example of saddle-light navigation.
Photon checks into a hotel. Bellhop asks, “You have any luggage?” The photon replies, “No, I’m traveling light.”
I’m reading a great book about antigravity—I just can’t put it down.
What do you get when a telescope bangs into a microscope? A kaleidoscope!
I can still remember a time when I knew more than my phone.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kickboxing.
My dog licked the crumbs out of my computer keyboard and earned an online college degree.
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You left the best till last David!
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And another to add to your collection, David.
There were three subjects I was really bad at when I was at school. – Science and Maths.
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And another one –
There are 3 types of people in this World. Those that can count and those that can’t.
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…and old faithful…
There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don’t.
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An undisputed fact: The age of An Average Man is 112 years old.
20
Oh dear. Below average again.
00
There are three types of people in the world.
Those who understand mathematics and those who don’t.
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OOps. I now see others had the same joke.
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Tom Lehrer – New Math (Animated)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIKGV2cTgqA
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There are only two types of people.
Those who categorise people and those who don’t.
50
Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 commander passed away.
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Only four ‘Moonwalkers’ out of twelve left alive: Buz Aldrin, David Scott, Charles Duke and Harrison Schmitt.
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Trust you’re including Michael Jackson?
70
News Flash….. he’s not alive.
20
In the event that the Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the moon this is the prepared speech which was to be read by the US President:
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Lots of Flannery in Sydney right now – And there has been throughout Australia for the past 3 to 4 years. Most Dams are close to being full.
Flatulence Flannery, are you staying dry and true to your discredited Alarmist predictions?
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR714.loop.shtml#skip
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There needs to be a new unit of climate alarmist stupidity call the Flannery.
A number between one and five, one the least extreme and five the most.
You would say something like “they/them are the full five Flanneries worth of climate stupid”.
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We already have “Wadhams”, as a measure of Arctic ice amounts,
60
Victorias premier is defending the use of the desal plant currently using fossil fuels to pump water into Cardinia reservoir. She claimed that people who said that it was not required are wrong as the desal plant had supplied fresh water into Melbourne’s supply MANY TIMES. What she doesn’t say is whether the water was actually required.
During drought years Melbournes stored water capacity can and has dropped below 50%. This in its self doesn’t justify the desal plant running. The desal plant did not run during Liberal control years, we didn’t run out of water and nor would we this year with stored water capacity around 70% . Politics, and the ability to lie by omission. The desal plant runs because labour built it and to justify its existence they use it whether the water is required or not. Never mention of course that Melbournes population continues to increase, the last water storage built for Melbourne was in the 1970’s.
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The one in SA HAS to be run every year – it is in the Contract. Aimed at keeping the plant fully usable.
I forget how long it must be, a few hours only.
Mind you the diesel plants (supposedly to supply electricity there) have been run a lot more than that – although the Media doesn’t seem at all enthusiastic about reporting that.
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Mostly from EPA :
Since around 2015, the plant has mostly run in a reduced or minimum production mode due to lower demand and the cost of desalinated water . In fact, for much of its operational life since 2012, it’s functioned at roughly 10% of full capacity—enough to keep the infrastructure active and ready .That equates to about 8 gigalitres per year, compared with a full capacity of 100 GL/year
Frequency Patterns:
The plant typically produced up to 300 ML/day for just 1.5 days per week, alternating with maintenance and idle periods when demand was lower
“It has been 12 years and change since it was finished in 2012. Since then it has run at 10% capacity, … It was always intended as a ‘backup/boost’ system…”
Ramp-Up Events:
During the exceptionally dry year of 2024, the plant significantly stepped up operations. In January 2025, output rose to 300 ML/day—a dramatic increase from around 17 ML/day in January 2024—highlighting how quickly the plant can be ramped up when needed . This enhanced output continued through mid-2025 to support Adelaide’s water security.
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Do you think the relevant public servants, brilliant engineers they are, inserted into Desal Plant design spec a clause for potential extended idle mode?
Like (hopefully) any modern car is able to idle for hours without burning some vital bits to cinders…
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Let’s hope they are equipped with variable speed feed pumps.
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No matter how you look at them, they are filters. Filters are designed to operate at PEAK efficiency at one flow rate.
So a variable speed unit is not much use.
A multi/parallel plant is a better bet. If you had 10 parallel channels, then you could fire one or more of these up as required. Better to leave 9 in mothballs than to run them all well away from peak, just to have them foul.
20
Being filled with imported Labor voters to entrench Labor forever!
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Upon reading a comment that gun ownership in Australia had dropped by 68% since the Howard firearms amnesty, I checked the population figures for 1997 and 2025. Surprised to find that pop. in 1997 was 18.4 million compared to 27.4 million today. A staggering increase of almost 50% in only 28 years. And the demographic which has been imported are not likely the old time Aussie fishers and shooters.I intend to keep my rods and guns for the time (perhaps not far away), when we will need to become resourceful and self-sufficient once more.
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The Perth area relies on its three desal plants for 30-40% of its water.
30
The BoM keeps predicting an el Nino, and we keep getting a la Nina.
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They’ll get it eventually, even a broken clock is correct twice a day.
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Strong blocking high pressure is out of place in the Austral winter, it should be near Byron Bay. The authorities seem unconcerned.
http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/synoptic_col.shtml
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This is straight forward state intimidation.
Visiting protesters at home who have not committed any offence, to give them advisory leaflets on demonstrating.
We know who you are, we know where you live, we know you opinions.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14984049/embarrassed-police-officer-knocks-anti-migrant-protesters-door-sent-doorknocking-thought-police.html
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Scary.
Since Australian Government policy is to adopt the worst and most totalitarian policies of other woke regimes, it is only a matter of time before we see this in Australia.
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https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/stroke-heart-attack-broke-melbourne-gp-who-refused-to-give-covid-jabs-is-on-his-knees/news-story/ded14cf20fd34d39d01e57cb71b4a081
Not sure if this link will work, as reported in todays News.com, how a Melbourne doctor was vilified, banned from practicing medicine and completely broken in both spirit and financially for daring to not co operate with Victorias covid directives. No criminal charges, just the destruction of a mans life because he dared to follow his conscience and NOT give confidential patient information to the authorities.
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He is a very good man, this is a tragedy.
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Does he have a GoFundMe set up? I’d be happy to help. Then again, I believe the Stasi have, in the past, shut down such accounts if they don’t like the cause.
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Great to see the copper is at least human, fancy being expected to carry out that duty.
This crap is straight out of North Korea.
1984 stuff.
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“Non-Crime Hate Incidents” are a real thing in the UK.
The police turn up to tell you that someone has reported you for causing someone to be offended, and it has been logged as a non-crime hate incident.
They cannot tell you who reported you, or even what you did.
There is no crime, just a “we’re watching you” message from the police… and you’re on a list forever.
Have your house ransacked, and things stolen, or have your car broken into or stolen, and you usually won’t get a police visit (in a large city) unless someone has been injured.
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On the last UAH update there was an interesting note.
‘The 0.12 deg. C drop in global average temperature anomaly since last month was dominated by the extra-tropical Southern Hemisphere, which fell from +0.55 deg. C in June to +0.10 deg. C in July.’
Climate reanalyser currently shows a similar disparity for the 2m temperature anomalies, with the SH heading towards middle ground, but the NH still pretty peaky.
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Mr Nasty (can I call you Grim for short?), also in UAH’s regional breakdown for July – deepest winter down in these parts – although ‘Australasia’ was half-a-degree above average (0.53), the S. Hemi as a whole was merely a quarter of a degree (0.23) above spontaneous combustion levels.
They’re only numbers fergoodnessake, after all, and fractions of a degree at that (even so, Warmunistas will run with it shouting we must act!) yet compared to the N. Hemi’s half-degree anomaly (0.49), the watery hemisphere’s 0.23 is about as scary as carbon dioxide’s 0.04% minor trace gas level, most if-not-all of which is a la natural.
Meanwhile hail, snow & ice has closed SH1 through the centre of the North Island while southerners are enjoying one of the best powder days this year with Queenstown still on zero (0*C). Hope Albo & his fiancée didn’t catch a cold or something worse…
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It has to do with blocking high pressure and warming oceans.
According to the models, as oceans warm blocking should disappear, but that is not happening. If anything they are becoming more intense, causing havoc.
The SH temperature anomaly reflects midlatitude weather extremes, caused by blocking dragging up Antarctic blasts.
I blame meandering jet streams for everything.
21
none of this has anything to do with climate, and is clear on the UAH site
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Have you heard the yarn about the extra water vapour in the stratosphere causing a spike in temperatures?
Scientists are shocked, it wasn’t in the script.
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ENSO is the main driver of temperature and La Nina is set to drive temps down.
https://notrickszone.com/2025/08/08/la-nina-continues-globe-to-keep-cooling-for-another-year/
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The North Pacific is boiling and the South Pacific is cool.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/ocean/surface/currents/overlay=sea_surface_temp_anomaly/orthographic=-125.88,12.86,530/loc=-111.897,-13.169
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“I blame meandering jet streams for everything.”
Absolutely! Global warming never happened before the jet age! Ban all jet engines!!
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Unfortunately meandering jet streams came before jet engines were invented.
‘There is copious evidence showing that not only are cold snaps not uncommon, but that the jet stream’s (and more specifically, polar vortex) influence on extreme winter weather has been acknowledged since at least 1853.’ (wuwt)
21
But the mineraloid, jet, has been around for thousands of years … I wonder if that, too is to blame?
Must be.
Like the Joint European Torus.
Get shot of that and we can go back to those idyllic Little Ice Age conditions, where your pee freezes in your chamber pot, under your bed [S. Pepys, his Diaries].
Auto – really looking forward to a return to the Seventeenth Century here in the UK …
Errr – do I actually need a /sarc??
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Who’s On First.
This is a very good sketch from Abbott and Costello.
https://x.com/CoVet_81/status/1953916669430313217
Just under 5 mins, I don’t think a lot of people would have the patience to listen to it these days.
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And another one –
The Marx Brothers and the Party of the First Party………..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X85Ji-t4ls
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a twist on Who’s on first.
Who’s the new leader of China.
https://youtu.be/v1syLSo7pz4?si=2PkE-BbqTBnqFFSj
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This skit from Abbott and Costello is still my all time favourite.
Just brilliant!
40
From George Christensen:
There will be a livestream about this from Senator Malcolm Roberts:
I don’t have the link for this and may not be able to post it in time so you’ll have to find out yourself.
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Also:
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Talking of the Watchers –
Albo & Luxo (Labor v National) greeted each other with a ‘man-hug’ which looked a little way-too-close for comfort, but I guess that’s international relations of the mate-ship kind in these Days Of Agenda™️.
After being welcomed to country by the obligatory Maori sing-song group, they and their men-in-black entourage were whisked away to a tech millionaire’s private “bunker-style” lodge out of town, the media pics showing a Dr Strangelove War Room-style circular theatre with some kind of talisman placed in the centre [Eyes Wide Shut?].
https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360786156/rod-drurys-high-powered-queenstown-retreat-hosts-albanese-luxon-summit
I always understood the meeting/melding of corporate technological industry with that of government was summed up by Mussolini’s ode to Roman power, that word which shall not be mentioned starting with ‘f’ and ending with ‘ism’.
BTW the private lodge is named Te Wharehuanui:
Te = The
Whare = House
Nui = Big
(usually refers to a Maori place of meeting, a marae, The Big House).
The hua bit is intriguing however, as it’s one of those Polynesian words with 1,001 meanings depending on who’s using it: can mean fertile, pregnant, women’s private parts, or a demeaning slur borrowed from its English equivalent…
The House of Big Whores.
Make of that what you will.
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What’s the Maori for “rub and tug”?
And isn’t Queenstown meant to be the apocalypse bolt hole for the rich and famous?
50
hua is frequently used to mean ‘egg’ or ‘fruits’.
Both of those work in the above context.
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“The House of Big Whores.”
Ah yes, the alternative, The Big House of Whores is in Wellington, full of drones buzzing around achieving absolutely nothing!
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Australia’s censorship regime, especially aa it is applied to US-owned platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Gulag, Farcebook, X etc. will likely lead to sanctions by the TRUMP regime, as it should.
Today’s socialists are doing exactly the same as the old-time socialists. The leader of the National Socialists said:
80
“The U.S. will impose visa bans on foreign nationals it deems to be censoring Americans, ”
Isn’t the Lady Dog in charge of Aussie’s censorship a Yank anyway? She won’t be affected….
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I wonder if the e Safety Kommisar will be going after non-Big-Tech sites containing unapproved thoughts, like this one?
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I wonder when the e Safety Kommisar will be going after non-Big-Tech sites containing unapproved thoughts, like this one?
Auto
20
You’ve got to give it to AI. I asked it if the greenhouse effect was cause by gases with a dipole. The answer I got was “The greenhouse effect is driven by molecules with dipole moments that can absorb infrared (IR) radiation, trapping heat in the atmosphere. These molecules, like water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), vibrate and rotate, and if these vibrations cause a change in the molecule’s dipole moment, they can absorb IR radiation. This absorbed energy is then re-emitted, some of which is directed back towards the Earth’s surface, contributing to the warming effect.” So far so good. Then I asked it why carbon dioxide sublimed and did not go through a liquid phase. The interesting answer was “While the individual C=O bonds in carbon dioxide are polar due to the electronegativity difference between carbon and oxygen, the molecule as a whole DOES NOT HAVE A DIPOLE MOMENT because of its linear and centrosymmetric (symmetrical) structure.” And the New Zealand government expect AI to be marking our kids exam papers!!!!?**#?
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Good one, exposing responses to a loaded question.
The first answer simply ignored your implied and prejudicial condition that gases must also have a dipole moment. The answer was about vibration and rotation not attraction and repulsion. I get this a lot in questions where conditions are implied or just leading questions. An answer must be prefaced with the rider that the specified condition has been ignored. AI is not at that point yet, which means you can get misleading answers from a loaded question.
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Yup, my point exactly.
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Hi T. I am curious to understand “The first answer simply ignored your implied and prejudicial condition that gases must also have a dipole moment,” when the answer it gave was “The greenhouse effect is driven by molecules with dipole moments.” It’s Sunday morning and I have a monster hangover so help me out here. I understand that there is a lot more to consider such as rotation and vibration, but again, with this level of development, I would be concerned about AI marking school exams.
20
Have you tried this?
https://au.iherb.com/pr/thorne-nac-90-capsules-500-mg-per-capsule/19111
I find that it has significantly increased my resilience to hangovers. I only take one a week, but the effect is slowly cumulative … so I presume the liver absorbs the NAC and then builds out whatever enzymes it requires.
Of course, also a good idea to stay hydrated, don’t go overboard with the drinks and if you are going to buy booze then get something high quality because otherwise you are just punishing yourself. But beyond that “grandma advice” … I’m curious to know anyone else’s personal results with NAC.
50
NAC or N Acetyl Cysteine is definitely useful. It combines with glycine and selenium to make Glutathione, one of our most important antioxidants. Our livers use it to detox the alcohol. I find it useful and take 2 grams, roughly twice a week, for general health reasons. I have a draft post on it, and a very interesting paper I must get around to writing up…
90
Made from human hair (allegedly collected in Chinese barbershops) or poultry feathers when made by the non-synthetic route…
Just sayin’.
22
Hi Jo, thanks for the info. Unfortunately selenium is one of those great trace elements that is missing in the New Zealand diet. There is little or no selenium in the New Zealand soil, so even fresh veg is lacking. I usually have a couple or 3 Brazil nuts a day to make up for this. Selenium, or lack of, has also been implicated in some cancers.
30
Low selenium in WA soils too. So I eat 2-3 brazil nuts myself a day. Occasionally a 200mcg supp of Se just to cover bases.
Yes, a deficiency of Se has been linked to significant increased cancer risk, and we’ve known that for years. It is a scandal that these basic deficiencies are not checked and prevented, especially in countries with low selenium soils.
David, Most modern NAC is made from “L-cysteine produced via fermentation using bacteria such as Escherichia coli or Corynebacterium glutamicum that have been engineered to overproduce cysteine from inexpensive carbon sources (e.g., glucose, corn starch hydrolysate).” Collecting hair on the floor is wildly uneconomic when we can feed sugar to bacteria by the ton.
80
Around 1970 while working at CSIRO, we collected specimens of the plant Neptunia ampluxicaulis from pastures in west Queensland and identified the selenium-rich chemical that caused sheep deaths. Several sheep died painful deaths after we fed small amounts to them.
In Nature, Selenium can replace Sulphur in critical substances like proteins/amino acids. Their normal function halts and they behave as toxins.
Selenium is not an element that I would consider swallowing without purpose and without close, expert supervision. Yes, I am aware that it is listed as a trace element essential for human welfare, but I am also aware that people can overdose if they get too zealous and lack feedback. Geoff S
20
Have been using NAC with Zinc, Vit D, Vit C, Quercetin with Bromelain since 2017, and use Lyp-sine at the first feeling of a Cold Sore
As I have regular blood tests throughout the year, always keep an eye on where I am at – normally my usual CLL Indictors only outliers
Regime has seen me through 2 Major Ops, loads Minor Ops, through Covid without Vaccine and able to recouperate after first Covid this year with only Doxycyline
50
DM,
The several new gold mines we found were expressed for easy comparison in an old-fashioned measure of millions of ounces of contained gold. Mines over 1 million ounces are hard to find. Ours were between 1 and 10 million oz at gold grades around 1 to 10 grams per ton. There are about 30 grams to the ounce.
The rich exception was Juno mine at Tennant Creek that put Peko on its feet (before my time). 450,000 tonnes of ore at the rare high grade of 59 g/t for about 1 million oz.
The African figures that you quote are unbelievable.
Geoff S
20
OldOzzie,
You might benefit from ceasing all of these chemicals for six months.
It is possible, with low probability, that one of them is helping you, but the chances of all 6 doing good is next to zero. Harm is a possible outcome.
Most alternative meds are on the fringe because hard medical science has not endorsed or adopted them.
Australia would benefit from closing the big alt med factories and opening them as makers of proper drugs for export. Hard scientists are fatally sceptical of snake oil salesmen, rich as they have become from milking the gullible. Beware the new word “wellness”. Quack, quack.
Geoff S
20
Why not just take Glutathione in that case?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutathione
I looked on Wikipedia and it says you are better off taking NAC because of bioavailability. Regardless of that Chemist Warehouse will happily sell you Glutathione supplements but it’s harder to buy NAC for reasons I don’t understand.
BTW … I don’t think there’s any Selenium in the formula of Glutathione … the “S” stands for Sulphur (yellow ball in the diagram).
10
Gluathione is a bit expensive and doesn’t get absorbed well. It’s cheaper to consume the sub-parts and let your liver make it.
Selenium is a co-factor. It helps Glutathione get recycled, and is essential for it work more effectively. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.179.4073.588 Eg see this paper from 1973:
I buy $70/kg powder. Add 1-2g in a shot-glass, scull, chase with brazil nuts. (NAC does not taste good).
10
Thanks Tel. I’ll try that. Fortunately I don’t get many hangovers. I normally prefer a descent ale to spirits. But being of Scottish descent, every now and again, I can be tempted to over indulge in the waters of life. A mate bought round a bottle of Glenlivet 15 year old special reserve last night and we put a real dent in that. Bloody good fun at the time.
50
FWIW
“AirBus Advantage In Cockpit Design”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/airbus-advantage-in-cockpit-design/
60
I struggle to understand why using a mobile phone while driving attracts penalties but playing with a multi media screen does not. After a recent upgrade from a 2007 Hilux to something more modern, I can empathise completely with Chiefio, The new one beeps endlessly, symbols light up in the dash and the swearing upsets the wife. Reference to the book, all 480 pages of it, never quite seems to make things clearer to me. Oh well left to my own devices I drive the 1992 Hilux, Nothing beeps or blinks, it doesn’t try to out think me, the controls do what I want, the wipers go from OFF to intermittent, to ON, No magic “sensors” starting things that I don’t want.
160
100% Sambar.
The older vehicles are like playing a piano. Once you learn where the keys are muscle memory takes over.
Anything with a screen and menues requires reasonably intense concentration.
In the meantime anything happening on the road ahead whilst driving in your 2 tonne vehicle is ignored.
Safe and legal?
I know it’s not safe and it should not be legal.
110
I’ve mentioned this before but it fits here –
I have a book with a chapter on a USAAF WW2 pilot who got put through an RAF fighter low (deck) level flying course.
The first requirement was that he knew all the cockpit controls by feel.
50
Yes we have similar experiences and similar sized manuals with my wifes new car. We seem to have wrestled it into submission at the moment with minimal “features” and only the wanted ones active. Its shame we have to pay for all that nonsense.
Something is going to have to go very wrong with out 2009 hilux (or me) for it to be prised from my fingers.
I think there would be a market for simple cars with 1990s tech (AC, cruise, abs , air bags) but I guess that ship has sailed with governments and industry telling us what we must have.
50
The 2007 Hilux went to a grand daughter. She is the only person in her cohort of newly 18 year olds that can drive a manual car. When she went for her license test the Vic roads person was a bit critical of the way she was driving, the instructor explained to the tester that “this is a manual car”, the retort floored him, Oh, I have never tested anyone in a manual car before!
20
This article from the Courier (Ballarat) in Oct 2023 says that in the prior 12 months Vic Roads’ figures show only 6.8% of licenses are issued by testing in manual cars.
215,973 licenses with 14,659 being for manual.
https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/8377041/manual-transmission-licensing-is-all-but-dead-according-to-latest-figures/
I did my test in an automatic car 40 years ago, back when most were still doing them in manuals. I didn’t see the point in doing the test in a manual given the restriction was only for a year and I intended to buy an auto.
10
FWIW
“Cloud Seeding History: Looking Back at the Colorado River Basin Pilot Project”
“How we fooled ourselves about the effectiveness of cloud seeding.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/09/cloud-seeding-history-looking-back-at-the-colorado-river-basin-pilot-project/
20
HELEN TRINCA
My biggest OMG moment in 50 years as a journalist
Recently, during a company training session on AI tools, I uploaded a PDF of a nonfiction book I had just published into NotebookLM – a Google “research assistant” – and asked it to create a podcast.
About 15 minutes later, back came a 15-minute podcast with a male and female discussing the key themes of Looking for Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Harrower.
To say I was gobsmacked would be an understatement. The accents were American but the podcast about this relatively unknown Australian novelist was lively and insightful, posing questions that even I was slightly surprised by.
It was my biggest OMG moment in 50 years as a journalist adapting to technology that has taken newspapers from hot metal to AI tools that can summarise a handful of complex reports in a nanosecond. It’s one thing to ask ChatGPT or Google or News Corp’s in-house bot how many prime ministers Ireland has had since 1922 and to be told immediately that 15 people have served in the role. It’s another to discover AI can turn 80,000 words into a passable podcast in the time it takes to read a chapter or two.
How long before the TikTok generation simply converts complex essays into podcasts they then use as a study tool? How long before a journalist’s job will be to record an interview, then hand the transcript over to AI to write the story, then finesse it a little?
My podcast experiment was frightening but oddly liberating.
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“How long before a journalist’s job will be to record an interview,”
I see no reason for a journalist to be there at all! The computer can interview a person, apparently with far more insight and access to background data, then write it up and run it past an editor AI before it goes to publication.
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Something My Wife would agree with!
Is your husband depending on you for his emotional and social life? That’s mankeeping
Mankeeping — are you your husband’s BFF, therapist and PA?
Women who bear the brunt of household labour are also taking on responsibility for their partner’s life outside of work. That’s a whole extra burden women could do without.
“My partner and I don’t have kids but sometimes helping him understand, let alone articulate, his emotions feels like toddler training,” a female friend tells me. “I organise or instigate almost every non-football-orientated social event, so he sees far more of my friends than his. And while I have many outlets for moaning, negativity and problems, he only has the one — and it’s me!”
In a 2018 survey of men in the UK by the Movember Foundation, 27 per cent said they had no close friends and 22 per cent over the age of 55 said they had them but never saw them. In May a Gallup poll of men aged 15-34 found that in the UK 21 per cent had answered yes when asked if they had felt lonely for much of the previous day. We talk about the male loneliness epidemic but don’t yet have an infrastructure to tackle it.
I’m single and can see as early as the first date whether a man lacks that community around him — and the date then becomes an unpaid therapy session. Without a romantic partner at home, they save everything up then pour it out at me. There’s no give and take — it happens without them asking me any questions about myself at all.
A female friend points out that when we talk about hetero dating, we’ve been asking men to talk about their feelings for years. She’s right.
But do they have to share all of them, all at once, before I’ve even had a chance to take my coat off?
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” And while I have many outlets for moaning, negativity and problems, he only has the one — and it’s me!””
Haha! The ego! The hubris! What makes her think that, she wouldn’t know? Poor bloke probably moans all the time to his mates about the wife that keeps asking him how he’s feeling and how his day went!
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Introverted and high intelligence?
Asberger’s?
One on one conversations with anyone can be quite normal.
Add two or more extroverts and the introvert will not be able to get a word in (edgewise, vertical or otherwise).
about feelings or facts
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So let me get this straight … when guys go out all night drinking, that’s bad because he should be home with the family. When he stays home with the family that’s bad because they get too isolated and don’t see their mates anymore.
When the husband organizes who the wife sees, that’s manipulative and controlling … but when the wife organizes who the husband sees that’s “taking on responsibility” and “a whole extra burden”.
When a man won’t talk about his feelings that’s terrible but woe betide any man stupid enough who does talk about his feelings.
See a pattern here? Hey I have an idea … lifestyle reporters can stick it because their moronic ideas never helped anyone and quite likely never were intended to. Just cancel your subscription and stop reading that utter rubbish.
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Corporate media embarrasses itself: It’s impossible for every location to be warming faster than every other location
According to the John Locke Foundation, additional lists abundantly claim similar findings for many regions – Africa, the Mediterranean, India, Pakistan, China, West Asia, Singapore, Japan and even Antarctica – each reported to be warming “faster than the global average,” sometimes “twice,” “three times,” or even “four times” faster.
These headlines all share the same lazy narrative template: choose a region, compare its trend to a global average, trumpet the difference, and ignore any nuance. But note the absurdity: nearly simultaneous claims that Canada, Europe, Russia, Asia, Africa, Antarctica and more are all warming “twice as fast” or more than the rest of the world.
https://expose-news.com/2025/08/08/iimpossible-for-one-location-to-warm-faster/
Shonky-slop journalism at its finest.
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Just from my collection of “warming faster” stories over the past couple years:
The Arctic warming “four times faster than the global average”
Europe warming “more than twice the global average”
The Mediterranean “20% faster”
The Middle East “twice as fast”
Africa “faster, more than the global average”
Russia “2.5 times quicker”
China “faster than rest of the world”
West Asia “twice as fast”
Singapore “twice as fast”
Japan “about three times as fast”
India “worst in Asia”
Pakistan “twice as fast”
Indian Ocean “higher rate than other oceans”
The Atlantic Ocean “warming the fastest”
South-West Pacific “more than three times faster than the global average rate”
Australia “faster than the global average”
New Zealand “slightly higher than the world average”
Earth’s Lakes “faster than its air”
Canada “twice as fast”
Latin America and the Caribbean “faster than the global average”
Mexico “faster than the rest of the planet”
Central and South America “greater than the global average”
The United States of America “68 percent faster than the planet as a whole”
Britain “warming faster than average”
Temperature in Finland “rising faster than anywhere in the world, study says”
SA “warming faster than global average”
Switzerland “twice average”
Mountains “warming twice as fast as the rest of the world”
Adirondacks “warming faster than global average, study shows”
Spain “warming faster than rest of the northern hemisphere: study”
Alaska “twice as fast”
Sweden “twice as fast”
My back garden is warming twice as fast as next door. Must be climate change and nothing to do with the barbecue and patio eaters.
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I think that covers every location so what exactly is the global average? 😆
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Think of a number, double it to make it really scary. Double your income from last year and ask for that as a research grant ‘cos these numbers are so bad that they are a tipping point and must be investigated. Call yourself Michael Mann and when it looks like your bullying and narcissism is getting you nowhere, throw your toys out of the cot and compare the Trump administration to Stalin. That should just about do it.
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I saw a similar litany of BS listed on a blog the other day. It was a listing of all the propaganda the west has spewed out over the last 3 years to convince itself that Russia is collapsing or will collapse very soon.
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This fits here –
“Media Math Fail: Why Everywhere Can’t Warm Faster Than the Global Average”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/08/media-math-fail-why-everywhere-cant-warm-faster-than-the-global-average/
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Alarming new study finds smartphones ruining our brains at unprecedented speed
The Financial Times recently published a devastating analysis of American personality changes using data from the Understanding America Study, and the findings should stop you cold.
In less than a decade, conscientiousness — the trait most closely linked to responsibility, follow-through, and self-control — has collapsed among young adults. For those aged 16 to 39, it’s not a gradual erosion; it’s a plunge from respectability into the low 30th percentile. Older adults (who aren’t addicted to smartphones), meanwhile, remain essentially unchanged.
https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/alarming-new-study-finds-smartphones-ruining-our-brains-at-unprecedented-speed/
Now, referenced against my posts on Dopamine, if I said that your posts being redthumbed is a good thing, would you understand? 😎
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Mindfulness is so last millenium . . . .
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” a deeper commitment to a digital world over the real world is also evolving at an alarming rate, as is a sharp decline in trust and extroversion. ..the cost is attention. Not just “I get distracted sometimes” attention, but the deep, sustained focus that conscientiousness requires. The skill of delaying gratification, resisting impulse, and staying the course is being replaced by an addiction to novelty, validation, and stimulation. The more we indulge, the less we can resist indulging ”
Nah, the politicians expanding the Welfare State do all that! If all these lazy little fkers had to get a real job and sweat at it 40hours a week they’d be too tired to worry about their phones!
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Bring back western manufacturing?
This is what you have to compete with.
Making a steel dish antenna:
https://youtu.be/9QenEe86QxI?si=Nw71ZNLIYNWOhbAA
Maybe some foam mats?
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_t0k986r2541z23obp.mp4
OHS nightmares, every one.
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The mystical brain pathway of skin coolness
University of Michigan (U-M) researchers set out to investigate how the sensation of enjoyable coolness on our skin is signaled to the brain, hypothesizing that there might be an unknown “wiring route” that relays the message – one separate from other sensory signals like pain, heat and extreme cold.
In mice, the skin’s TRPM8⁺ sensors speak quietly in response to the coolness, then Trhr+ spinal interneurons act as a kind of pre-amp that boosts this cool-only signal. Calcrl+ projection neurons then carry that clean, amplified “cool” signal up to the lateral parabrachial nucleus (lPBN) – a cluster of neurons in the upper brainstem – without any signal interference from other messaging conveying information about things like pain, itch or heat.
When researchers silenced the spinal “pre-amp,” the cool channel went silent.
https://news.umich.edu/coolness-hits-different-now-scientists-know-why/
Next up, the kidney brain axis that influences neurological diseases like dementia.
The science is never settled when we know so little.
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Sunday DYK
Arab traders brought pasta to Sicily in 1154, introducing thin dried noodles called “Itrya” that could be stored for months. This Middle Eastern innovation sparked Italy’s pasta revolution, not Marco Polo’s later trip to China.
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There is another rogue asteroid heading our way, called the 3i Atlas.
Hubble took a good screen shot to analyse what its made of and a Harvard professor thinks it might be an alien ship. Chilean astronomers focussed on the object and purportedly received a message from it, which nobody could decipher, so they plugged it into ChatGPT and received a prompt answer.
Paraphrasing the message, they are saying we’ll be there in November and not to worry.
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Now you’re sounding like JC11 ! Still, not long to wait, and more fun than waiting for global warming to happen.
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The MSM is mute, so I reckon its fake, nevertheless something to look forward to.
When the First Fleet turned up in Sydney the locals were horrified and initially turned their backs on these ghosts.
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Never turn your back on the sea.
Our bunch poked their tongues out at the pale English ghosts – it’s become a national pastime 🤪
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The ‘science’ that warns us we must ‘de-carbonize’, and coerced the globe into self-imprisonment for nearly two years, told us to wear two mask, whilst mandating an experimental liability free vaccine that was more dangerous than disease (per recent pronouncements by the US HHS) …
that politically and socially crushes any opposition to its’ institutional narrative …
now tells us that the 3rd only interstellar object ever (since 2017) orbiting between stars (BTW the closest one is really far away) gravitationally centered around Gaia knows what …
is nothing to worry about.
I’m sure everything is fine.
Silly conspiracy theorists.
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Plus, I might get bitten by a tick that will turn me into a vegetarian.
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Just watched a news item concerning money laundering and illegal tobacco sales. Seems the small tobacco shops can install self managed private ATM’s! These shops sell illegal tobacco and instruct “addicts” to use the ATM rather than pay cash over the counter which sales are recorded. Some of these ATMs allow the shop owner to restock the cash draw.
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Dont get it. Cash sales at the counter with customers existing cash is only recorded if you chose to record it. Dont see how the ATM adds anything but a tracking point.
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FWIW – another big swig of hopium for “ElBowen”
“All Spin Aside, the Emerging AI Data Centers Will Rely on Natural Gas”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/08/all-spin-aside-the-emerging-ai-data-centers-will-rely-on-natural-gas/
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I believe that the cost of natural gas is a heck of a lot cheaper in the States than it is in Australia. Under those circumstances, CCGT gas would be cheaper than USC coal, as stated by Rud Istvan. But I don’t believe that holds true for Australia, especially in the east.
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Melbournistan’s mayor wants to abandon colonial four seasons and replace them with Aboriginal six seasons.
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“We have gone and superimposed four seasons, essentially from northern Europe,’ ”
Strangely both NO and WRONG. At a guess it’s got something to do with the way the sun affects the planet. I’m completely confused by this, I watched a show on SBS that explained that the aborigines were the world’s first astronomers. Looks like they got this bit wrong!
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Wet Season
Dry Season
Cold Season
Warm Season
Fire Season, and
Donovan – Season of the Witch (Official Audio)
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Woke mayor ignorant of how the Sun’s position drives the seasonal cycle on Earth.
How did he get to Mayor when he obviously wasn’t paying attention at school?
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Depends which tribe you asked I’ll bet! I’ve love to see their 6 seasons marked on the Earth’s orbit, as Sambar says, the 4-season calendar has divided the orbit into quarters showing apogee, perigee and halfway between each.
I think we should put a border fence around Vic and keep the stupidity caged in.
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Reece, is a radical, dyed red, full loony , lefty !
This 6 season comment is almost sane compared to some of his beliefs.
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FWIW – for the covid record
“Senior HHS Adviser Confirms the Worst COVID Fears Were True”
“Another COVID “conspiracy theory” just came true.
A Senior HHS Adviser confirmed it, and you could see the pain written all over his face.
This explains why RFK Jr. effectively shut down all mRNA vaccine funding.
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. dropped a mega bombshell on Tuesday when he announced that BARDA will be CANCELING 22 mRNA vaccine development contracts, saving taxpayers about $500 million in the process.
He declared, “mRNA technology poses MORE risk than benefits for these respiratory viruses.”
Now, we have a clearer picture as to why he made that bold statement.”
“In other words, the “cure” was WORSE than the disease.
Dr. Hatfill said, “It was more dangerous to take a vaccine than it was to contract COVID-19 and be hospitalized with it.” ”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/08/senior-hhs-adviser-confirms-worst-covid-fears-were/
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But the mRNA vaccines for Covid are still being promoted on Australian TV. I understand that recommendations have now been quietly withdrawn for the vaccines for children. But you wouldn’t know it from the advertising.
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I can’t believe it’s not butter!
https://youtu.be/V6DdNjJQvVg?si=n-mwkhumG1UklFyx
Would you eat it?
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So its main claim to fame is that it cuts out methane production. Righhhhhttt…
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No carbon footprint, lie number one, where does the energy come from, lie number two, butter does NOT have an ingredients list like they showed in the blurb.
I will bet this “artificial” butter contains colour and flavour additives, so not butter at all, just like soy milk isn’t milk and meat for vegetarians isn’t meat. No thanks I’ll give this planet saving technology a miss.
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Isnt this the same “technology” as suggested for producing liquid hydrocarbon oil/fuel ?
..so called “ sustainable gasoline “
But, i suspect the process is very expensive, and inefficient. Especially if they use Green Hydrogen, as they would have to in order to claim “sustainability” !
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‘Donald Trump is considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.’ (Guardian)
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“citing people familiar with the matter.”
Dope smokers working at the WSJ??
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Perhaps because marijuana is legal in many US states it has less organised crime involvement.
So because of less organised crime, and the relatively allegedly less harmless nature of the drug itself (except if you are already psychotic) then I am guessing that’s why TRUMP considers it less dangerous and if you must take psychoactive drugs, this is the less bad alternative.
Perhaps other such drugs could be legalised with or without restrictions which would remove the organised crime element and lower the cost so addicts didn’t have to commit crimes to support their habit.
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“Perhaps other such drugs could be legalised with or without restrictions which would remove the organised crime element and lower the cost so addicts didn’t have to commit crimes to support their habit.”
Heresy!!! Get thyself to an Abasement Center… Systems that might actually work, like you suggested, have been verboten to those pushing the War on Drugs since the 1930s. So we have extremely expensive recreational drugs, which promotes crime to pay for them, supplied by criminals through long chains of middle-men, and after 100years of war drugs are still freely available anywhere. A fine example of the whole efficiency of Govt at everything they touch.
The Govt could have synthesised recreational drugs and sold them in quality-controlled strengths, cutting the criminals off at the knees.
..or they could have ignored drugs, left us to step over addicts dying in the gutters while telling our children, ‘don’t touch drugs or you will end up like that’. At least that way we would disinfect the gene pool.
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That is the idea and it should work, Canada is a good example. Decriminalising weed produces a tax bonanza and there are votes in it.
The tobacco tax in Australia is over the top and so the underworld supplied cheap chop chop, then expanded the operation, political fail all round.
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I’m actually for recriminalising dope. A lot of my friends smoked when I was a teenager, 2 of them committed suicide, one has regular psychotic breaks.
The light clicked on when I listened to an interview with a psychiatrist, at first she thought people with schizophrenia were self medicating with dope, then one day it clicked, many of her patients were in locked wards because they smoked.
From knowing people who smoked, my rough observation is for most people, dope is as harmless as having a few beers. But for somewhere between 1-5% of the population, smoking dope can send them permanently psychotic, or at least inflict life long mental health problems.
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Mary Ju Hana should not be smoked before the age of 25.
The young brain is still being formed up till then.
Maybe even better to not smoke it at all.
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Smoking anything, in my opinion is probably not good for your health in general. Yes I know a couple of formerly young people that “smoked” sadly the magnification of their mental health issues does seem related. Still whether weed is good or not, surely the inhaled hot smoke and particulates can’t do you any good. If my wood heater is an issue when any smoke is mixed with large volumes of air then direct inhalation into the lungs of any burned substance must increase an individuals risk of health issues.
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FWIW
“Hypocrisy: Thy Name Is Europe”
https://pjmedia.com/rabbi-michael-barclay/2025/08/09/hypocrisy-thy-name-is-europe-n4942560
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FWIW
“The Judge’s Song from Trial By Jury, 2025 version”
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-judges-song-from-trial-by-jury-2025-version/
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FWIW – try that for a load
“The Wealthy White California Man Who is Destroying the Informal Sector in Africa”
https://magatte.substack.com/p/the-wealthy-white-california-man
Via https://instapundit.com/737419/#disqus_thread
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FWIW
“UK Met Office Flirts with Conspiracy Theory as it Slams Critics of Its ‘Junk’ Temperature Measuring Sites”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/09/uk-met-office-flirts-with-conspiracy-theory-as-it-slams-critics-of-its-junk-temperature-measuring-sites/
UK Met feelings hurt
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But… but.. it sounds so reasonable! So sciencey, I’m sure they know what they’re talking about and they’re just doing their best!
““A rigorous quality assurance system, including a long-standing and well-honed site inspection methodology, ensures that data produced at our sites are as accurate as they can be,” it observed. Ray Sanders recently discovered that 103 sites providing long-term data did not actually exist and measurements were being invented/estimated from “well-correlated related neighbouring sites”. Alas, subsequent efforts to discover the identity of these vital well-correlated inputs drew a blank with Freedom of Information requests denied as “vexatious” and not in the public interest.”
Govt all over!
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Intelligent life in Sulawesi over a million years ago.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-08-07/stone-tools-sulawesi-million-years-ancient-humans-fossils/105618842
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FWIW
New York on the other hand ???
“The Climate Cult Takes On “Resiliency” In Manhattan”
“The red arrow has been inserted to be sure that you can find the tiny red mark that indicates the portion of the shoreline represented by Wagner Park. So if the sea level were to rise up, how is that 400 feet of raised land going to prevent the water from coming inland along the rest of the 10 or so miles of waterfront?
So they have spent $300 million for a project that will inevitably fail at its stated mission, while ruining what was previously a perfectly nice park. This is not really much different from spending hundreds of billions of dollars on an energy transition that can’t possibly work. Or, for that matter, from spending a trillion or so dollars per year on the project to cure poverty, without ever putting a dent into the poverty rate.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/09/the-climate-cult-takes-on-resiliency-in-manhattan/
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Test comment
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Testing too
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Ditto…couldn’t post yesterday.
Using DDG earlier, no posting or new comments. Trying straight through Google now.
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Hello from the future – is Perth WA stuck in a Sunday timewarp or did your [foreign] e-Czar dislike something Jo said… Testing one two 😃
.
[There was an issue posting and even logging in for Mods, from yesterday until late this morning. Another kind of DDOS attack from an international location. – Raquel]
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FWIW
“The UN Releases the Reason There’s a Lack of Food in Gaza and Here’s a Hint: It’s Not Israel”
https://twitchy.com/eric-v/2025/08/10/un-releases-the-reason-theres-a-lack-of-food-in-gaza-and-heres-a-hint-its-not-israel-n2417076
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Monday’s done a runner!
And with a mega announcement pending too.
Oh well, off shopping instead then.😁
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Let us pray that it is a minor hiccup.
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