JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
Jo appreciates your support to help her keep doing what she does. This blog is funded by donations. Thanks!
Follow Jo's Tweets To report "lost" comments or defamatory and offensive remarks, email the moderators at: support.jonova AT proton.me
Statistics
The Express is often not the most reliable of sources but this is a good story
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2090605/china-biggest-threat-us-has-potential-flip-killswitch
We are all setting ourselves up so China can turn off our economy. If the Chinese don’t do it simply, then others will take us down through the use of the internet.
TS Eliot nearly said “The world will end not with a bang but a cyber attack” how foolish we are to make ourselves so vulnerable to new technology.
Things often seemed to work better before the Internet and digitalisation came along, things were much simpler and we were much freer. Is that heresy?
261
Ay, but we would never be treated to your excellent comments if the internet didn’t exist.
200
Jeez you guys are Luddites. Things are much better now everything is integrated and connected. I mean how else are you going to be able to loose access to your banking , your identity , your drivers license and your email all at once when you lose your phone. Hell, I wouldn’t even know what color bin to put out on rubbish night if my app wasn’t available. This is what progress looks like.
101
I mean how else are you going to be able to loose access to your banking , your identity , your drivers license and your email all at once when you lose your phone.
And Telstra, my bank and health cover wonder why I do not want to download their “app” to my phone.
OTOH you can use my phone if you want to buy some groceries for me……
20
Yarpos
I am working on an app that will let someone steal your identity far faster than any other app on the market. Would you like to trial it?
30
Sure , I download everything. So many apps. So little time
30
‘China can turn off our economy.’
But they have no desire to do so, Russia on the other hand is gearing up for that. A cornered rat is terrifying to behold.
04
‘Russia blames Australia war games as it dumps nuclear pact.
‘Russia says it will consider redeploying short and intermediate range nuclear missiles, claiming military actions by the US, Australia and NATO are putting its national security at risk.’ (Oz)
01
Tony, it is a mine field out there for we of advanced years. Try achieving the goal of opening an online account with a Major Australian bank which advertises ‘you can open an account in three minutes on the web’. We tried to, and after three weeks I advised them to put their account where the sun doesn’t shine. Experience with attempting to achieve something similar, with other organisations leaves one with a state of hopelessness. and negative on where our civilisation is going. What ever happened to Keep it simple Stupid.
80
3 weeks eh? Must be the average patience span. I tried to open a term deposit with the CBA, as an existing customer, as part of Estate administration and gave up after 3 weeks.
They so flippantly say just pop on the website, as they close branches, without any care on what a disaster their processes are. All the major banks seem to be the same.
30
Julian Assange became a bit of a hero for some, but here he is popping up in Sydney siding with “tens of thousands” at a Pro Palestinian march
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/assange-joins-pro-palestinian-protest-053353193.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9nYXRlc29mdmllbm5hLm5ldC8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGgKav_3bHgAI6Fn-lZiP_oSuFXAmQfo_LWdNB0yVMgkCmjkbaFgRZlGA40SqurI8ZWWWTfT8LzwXCwNYrVxX6RPb1jafN84x_xQEKHSm1IKo1C21CPpXeIADZjhPqu-6PBH_19pxHei1O3yBGpDfxxHWB9RN6mFnCrFnMeF_Y5-
Quite how a 2 state solution would ever work in that troubled region still defeats me as is knowing what the geographical boundaries would be of a modern Palestinian state.
180
It is always going to be a thorny issue. A 2 state solution has been proposed on a number of occasions but one party or another has rejected it. According to the Hamas charter, “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.” The Hamas charter also cites the Hadith about killing Jews and that the hour of judgement will only come when the Jews are eliminated. “Allah’s Messenger said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.’” There are other references to the idea that there cannot be peace until all the Jews and Christians are driven out. So, according to Hamas and strict adherence to Islam, there can be no 2 state solution
40
Parts of the Koran and Hadith meet the critria for hate speech and should be banned in the same way that writings hostile to Islam is.
30
Once the paleos get their “state”, the game changes from “police Action” to actual WAR.
Quite a difference.
Anyone running a book on how that might play out?
50
The problem is what to do with between two and three million people. Any feasible solution will come from the Middle Eastern states taking some responsibility. While this has been avoided in the past, there is plenty of evidence that they are fed up with the disruption to the region and are prepared to front up. Of course the Palestinians are not popular amongst them and, with the exception of Qatar, have been denied access to their countries. Now, even Qatar is said to be expelling Hamas associates.
Any long term solution must ensure the integrity of Israel’s borders. This may involve combined ME forces.
80
Much of the territory used to belong to Egypt and Jordan. Any solution is likely to involve them but a permanent one is likely to move the two states further apart not expect them to coexist tight to each other.
Difficult to envisage when one party constantly states they want to exterminate the other
50
The Two State Solution
It might be better if the Israeli citizens voluntarily moved to the Kimberley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Plan
06
Snow in Oz.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/australian-towns-blanketed-rare-snow-050543675.html
50
“New South Wales State Emergency Service said it had responded to more than 1,455 incidents. It said more than 100 vehicles had been stranded by snow.
Tens of thousands of homes spent the night without power, state broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.”
This is when it would be nice to have gas connected to your home.
It is not for nothing that this general area where it snowed is called the New England Tableland.
80
Here is an article on
“The US Department of Energy’s July 2025 report, A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate,”
“2. Climate Sensitivity and Models
The climate’s sensitivity to CO₂ is claimed to be lower in empirical studies than in climate models.
Climate models allegedly overstate past warming and exaggerate future risks due to:
High model sensitivity
Use of implausible emission scenarios (e.g., RCP8.5)
Urban heat island (UHI) effects contaminating surface temperature records”
https://thenewconservative.co.uk/climate-pant-wetters-don-their-diapers/
110
FWIW – viewed from outside
“Can’t Make This Up… Aussie Premier Jacinta Allan Sets Up ‘Machete Drop Boxes’ for Locals to Dispose of Their Banned Swords”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/08/cant-make-this-up-aussie-premier-jacinta-allan/
60
Drop it in the box Johnny, drop it.. drop it!!
20
UK bans zombie knives and machetes.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/zombie-style-knives-banned
Resident stops dog attack with machete!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24zn80ng44o.amp
30
How disconnected from reality would you have to be to dream up ‘machete drop boxes’.
Mind boggling ! !
80
Great! I’ve been looking for a couple of machetes, now I know where they’ll be!
70
The machete box will be sited next to the sharps bin in your nearest public toilet. Probably only in the gents and ABCQI to the power of 23 toilets.
40
Don’t have a machete?
Fancy a better one?
Just grab some string and a magnet. 😆
10
FWIW
“Why Are French Cars So Strange?
France’s love for odd French cars is part of a unique feedback loop that goes back to the origins of the car.”
https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a65528496/why-are-french-cars-so-weird/
Via https://instapundit.com/736214/#disqus_thread
20
2 Citroen Dyanes (1980s) and 1 Renault Megane Sport (2021) for me, each awesome in it’ own way.
00
“Strange”..?……NO !…but different,..good different .!
2CV, a Dyane, several GS models, and a BX.. Aall Great cars.
Superb, self leveling , hydro suspension, powerful brakes, aircooled engines, comfortable seats, etc etc.
Generally brilliant engineering .
00
2xBx’s, a GS, An XM, A renault 5. A Pluriel. All great in their own way. The XM was very clever with an inner glass lid so when the hatchback boot was raised the cold didn’t come in.
00
12 Sedan, 12 wagon, Laguna hatch diesel.
Renault has the knack of making long-leg cars that eat highway distance. German’s make cars with expensive badges while France makes cars that gobble up distance.
French cars are usually very good value in the near new second hand market because they suffer high depreciation. In the past, rust prevention was an issue but that has been improved.
20
Latest Kunstler
“Suspicious Minds
“It was a coup, and I’m using that term literally … One egregious felony after another.” — Stephen Miller ”
https://www.kunstler.com/p/suspicious-minds
21
FWIW
“Devastating Official US Report Lays Bare The Abuses of ‘Settled’ Climate Science And Its Role in Net Zero”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/04/devastating-official-us-report-lays-bare-the-abuses-of-settled-climate-science-and-its-role-in-net-zero/
In comments
“Funny. Reading the hysteria this morning, the first “climate scientist” to object was Al Gore and the second listed is Michael Mann.
On viewing that, I give a 100% credibility rating to the report, and 0 to the complainers.”
70
Oz also needs a Climate Working Group like John Christy, Ph.D. Judith Curry, Ph.D. Steven Koonin, Ph.D. Ross McKitrick, Ph.D. and Roy Spencer, Ph.D.
The Nats could put a CWG on their party platform and organise half a dozen Ph.D to start working straight away. Any suggestions on who would qualify?
02
It is sad to see Australia in social, cultural, and economic decline.
It is all so unnecessary.
Burning the Australian flag on the Harbour Bridge by terrorist sympathizers holding Hamas flags should not be tolerated by police, politicians, and the rest of the population.
130
New ways to herd cattle I see, the Police used ‘geolocated texts’ to tell the marchers to stop walking North.
Soon they will target individuals.. “YOU, reading this! Stop running!!”
60
Does SMS now mean “Stop Marchers, Stop!”
30
Better than getting Mossad pager alert
80
Judges should be impartial but if they want to be activists and make political decisions like allowing a terrorist-supporting march across the Syd. Harbour Bridge, then they should be elected.
90
Supposedly there were 90,000 participants, so the police took the right approach, crowd control was very effective.
And you all know that very few of these people are Hamas supporters, its all about the hungry children.
15
The viral photo of the “starving” child actually has a serious genetic illness.
https://honestreporting.com/another-photo-another-lie/
And Israel has let through vast amounts of aid. It is sitting in Gaza but the UN are failing to distribute it.
It’s also odd how no one is expressing concern for the starving hostages, the release of whom would go a long way toward stopping the war.
80
A lot of that aid is going directly to Hamas. I saw a vid on the Enforcer of trucks loaded to the hilt with armed fighters on top, travelling at a cracking pace beeping their horns. Its barbaric.
31
I suspect the burning is encouraged by them.
10
FWIW
“Scientific Fraud May Now Be Keeping Up with Moore’s Law”
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/08/04/scientific-fraud-may-now-be-keeping-up-with-moores-law-n3805491
20
Apparently the NZ property market has “collapsed ” in headline speak, or retreated to pre Covid levels at least. The Candadian market is doing similar things. However experts (spruikers) say it wont happen in Australia, because we are special and different or something.
In unrelated news Elon says wireless charging EVs is now the go, and that inductive charging can be just as efficient as a cable connection if configured properly. Not sure what he means buy efficient in that statement. I’m guessing he means time.
20
FWIW
“What Happens When the Wind Doesn’t Blow?”
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/08/04/what-happens-when-the-wind-doesnt-blow-n3805458
30
The Green Hydrogen Hype Is Fading
“Another big hit to Australia’s green hydrogen ambitions came last week, when oil and gas supermajor BP withdrew from operatorship and its majority stake in Australian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), one of the world’s top renewable energy projects that could generate 26 GW of combined solar and wind power and would cost $36 billion (AUS$55 billion). ”
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Green-Hydrogen-Hype-Is-Fading.html
90
Won’t be too long now…
https://imgbox.com/iOrgqMyL
You’re hiding Jo Nova blog members under the floorboards aren’t you.
20
Crazy engine Tuesday
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_t0gj0w1pun1z23obp.mp4
10
Does it also do a good job of smoking some brisket?
20
A full circle rainbow
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_t0gixclKis1z23obp.mp4
20
Scientists expose sudden death trigger hidden in vaccine
A groundbreaking new study has identified the mechanism used by Covid mRNA “vaccines” to trigger a sudden cardiac arrest in people who have received the injections.
A group of leading scientists in Germany found that the spike protein from the mRNA shots enters the cells and forms “clusters.”
These clusters, when they form in the heart cells, cause inflammation, which triggers a deadly cardiac arrest without warning.
The team discovered that, within hours of “vaccination,” these spike proteins began to aggregate into large, sticky clusters, particularly in human heart cells.
These protein aggregates were not random but formed in a highly consistent manner.
Most notably, the clumping occurred in a way that caused oxidative stress, inhibited cell growth, and, most importantly, triggered an inflammatory response.
https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/covid-shot-heart-bombshell-scientists
Definitely qualifies as a clusterf**k then.😉
60
Australian Senate gags debate on bill to define a man and woman
Labor and the Greens have blocked debate on legislation that would have provided a clear definition of a man and a woman in Australia.
Antic said the Bill’s aim was to restore the definitions of a man and a woman, which had been “deleted in 2013” by the Labor government.
“Yes, you heard that right, as presently enacted, the Sex Discrimination Act has no working understanding of what constitutes a man or a woman,” he told supporters on Aug. 1.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/australian-senate-gags-debate-on-bill-to-define-a-man-and-woman-5896186
It’s simple really.
Engage a “man” and a “woman” in an argument.
The one that’s right is always the woman. 😆
/no need for anti-science chromosomes at all.
90
FWIW
Viewed from outside
“Australian Senate Gags Debate on Bill To Define A Man And Woman”
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/australian-senate-gags-debate-bill-define-man-and-woman
10
Real women are back!
Let the Sydney Sweeney memes begin.
https://imgbox.com/9FeukDV9
/I think they’re right!
Just a reminder of the left’s insanity, now collapsing faster than a Chinese condo:
https://imgbox.com/4rvEr7aO
30
A little factoid for all the resident geologists on this blog. There is no Nobel Science prize for Geology because Nobel’s wife had an affair with a geologist. (True story) Nobel Prizes are awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics only.
80
Apparently Nobel never married yet his long term partner Ms Hess became pregnant by a geologist named Richard (Dickie?) Horn. ChatGPT is never wrong of course. Ms Hess was Jewish and some suggest Nobel’s writings were anti-Semitic.
20
There is an interesting article here:
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/2018-07-15/ty-article/.premium/alfred-nobels-letters-reveal-his-anti-semitic-chauvinistic-side/0000017f-e20a-d804-ad7f-f3fa72280000
Apparently not such a nice person.
10
Correct.
But there is a substitute Nobel equivalent for geology.
20
Adaptation reduces heat deaths.
https://notrickszone.com/2025/08/04/new-study-heatwave-related-deaths-have-been-declining-in-recent-decades/
11
FWIW
“TCW’s Summer Competition: Who is the most useless National Treasure? ”
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/tcws-summer-competition-who-is-the-most-useless-national-treasure/
10
FWIW
News for the weekend activists
“The hilarious breakdown of the Islamo-left alliance”
“The progressive left has suddenly noticed that most British Muslims are not exactly woke.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/08/04/the-hilarious-breakdown-of-the-islamo-left-alliance/
Via https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2025/08/04/oh-21/
20
FWIW
“Out of Ammo”
“This Sunday I realized the left — particularly the cultured, posturing left — is completely and utterly out of ammo.”
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2025/08/04/out-of-ammo/
10
FWIW
A proforma for “Elbow”?
“Great Success!”
“Chris Selley- What did we get for 100,000 new federal civil servants?
If I were PSAC, I would very much want to highlight the good all those extra public workers did for frontline services. I haven’t seen that; instead they focus mostly on the cuts themselves. So I asked the union for some examples.”
https://archive.md/PHQMz#selection-2111.14-2111.69
Via https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2025/08/04/great-success-111/
00
Jo. Here is a link to astrophysicist Joseph Postma’s most recent post titled “The State of Climate Sophistry.” I recommend this expose to all for an overview of the history behind the radiative physics of climate science. The foundational logic of modern radiation physics-based climate science is the Vacuum Planet Equation of astronomy. Joe as an accredited astrophysicist is eminently qualified to build on his professional expertise and demonstrate the ontological flaw of diluting the Top of the Atmosphere (TOA) insolation using a by-four divisor (1/4).
By diluting this key insolation flux metric by 4, rather than the logically correct divide TOA beam by two divisor (1/2), of a lit hemisphere, Climate Science completely removes night-time from the foundations of climate analysis; and thereby creates a twilight world model that cannot ipso facto generate Earth’s dynamic sunlit powered climate. https://climateofsophistry.com/2025/08/02/the-history-of-climate-sophistry/
20
Thanks but the article is a bit OTT. Even the conclusion is too much for this triple degree science graduate. A summary in plain English might help.
00
@Stanley. Climate Science treats planetary radiant flux output (divide solar beam by 4 for the full globe) as having the same value as solar radiant flux input (which is solar beam intensity divided by 2 for a lit hemisphere). Flux Intensity In does not equal Flux Intensity Out. Things go downhill from there.
10
@ Stanley. Does this help?
The following 15 statements discussed with Microsoft Copilot AI define my position on the dual roles of atmospheric thermal radiant opacity and the atmospheric mass-motion environmental lapse rate in defining Earth’s climatic properties under the impact of a single lit hemisphere insolation loading:
1. That the sun only ever shines over half of the surface area of the globe.
2. Sunlight inherently includes its high-frequency energy signature and cannot be treated as a frequency-independent input.
3. For a given beam intensity of sunlight (SI) arriving at the Top of the Atmosphere (TOA) the global lit hemisphere receives an average flux of SI/2
4. The full globe exhausts to space planetary thermal radiation with a flux intensity of SI/4
5. Twice the exhaust flux intensity spread over half the surface area is equivalent to the lit hemisphere insolation flux: (SI/4) *2 = SI/2
6. Half the lit hemisphere insolation flux intensity spread over the full surface area of the globe is equivalent to the global TOA thermal radiant exhaust flux: (SI/2)/2 = SI/4
7. The quality of the lit hemisphere insolation flux of SI/2 is richer (has both a higher frequency and greater intensity) than the quality of the planetary thermal radiant which is exhausted to space.
8. The two flux qualities are not equivalent, and this difference is established by comparing the Stefan-Boltzmann (S-B) temperature of these two distinctly different radiative fluxes.
9. For an average post-albedo lit hemisphere insolation flux of 470 W/m2 the thermal equivalent S-B temperature is 28.6 Celsius. This temperature is sufficient to melt surface water ice and vapourise water into the atmosphere, enhancing atmospheric thermal radiant opacity, and so hindering the loss to space of thermal radiant energy from the planetary surface.
10. For an average global TOA exhaust flux of 235 W/m2 the thermal equivalent S-B temperature is -19.4 Celsius.
11. For a global average surface temperature of 15 Celsius and a global average environmental lapse rate of 6.5 C/km -19.4 Celsius corresponds to average elevation of 5.3 km, which is near to the midpoint mass of Earth’s semi-opaque atmosphere.
12. The Earth’s surface acts as a perfect black body for pedagogical purposes and exchanges thermal energy with the overlying atmosphere by a contact process of diabatic energy exchange.
13. Atmospheric thermal radiant opacity hinders the loss to space of surface thermal radiant energy from the originally insolation-primed surface.
14. Climate is the atmospheric processes of thermalized fluid mass-motion that delivers energy from the lit hemisphere to the global dark side via zonal and meridional advection.
15. Opacity is the governor of atmospheric cooling rates and does not act as a surface energy enhancer by a fictitious process of back-radiation energy amplification.
Conclusion:
Insolation input received over the lit hemisphere initiates diabatic energy exchange at the surface-atmosphere interface, from which zonal and meridional advection redistribute thermalized energy across both diurnal and seasonal domains. The rate and extent of this redistribution are not governed solely by dynamical mechanisms, but are critically modulated by the atmospheric thermal radiant opacity. Opacity defines the altitude and temporal profile of radiative loss by constraining the vertical transparency of the atmosphere. Rather than acting as a feedback amplifier of surface energy, it functions as a regulatory throttle on cooling rates, shaping the conditions under which energy is retained within or released from the tropospheric column.
20