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
NZ is being “smashed “ by “extremely moist air”, also commonly known as rain/ showers.
Certainly January rain has been excellent for the productive parts of NZ, that is to say agriculture and horticulture, although the cooler temperatures are delaying some fruit ripening, e.g. cherries.
However MSM have called it a full-scale disaster – for those who produce little or nothing in the way of exportable food and fibre.
“We are just getting so much weather these days- it’s like you know 24/7”
Morons.
320
It’s amazing how the non-productive parasites always classify weather that is good for agriculture, e.g. warmth and/or rain and also CO2, excellent for agriculture, as bad things.
They must want we non-Elites to starve.
160
That is the plan, Stan.
100
Yesterday I heard an obviously not climate change fanatic but university based say that a major volcanic eruption recently on a small island resulted in the atmosphere being saturated with water resulting in the recent high rainfall in various places
50
The amount of water injected into the atmosphere by Hunga Tonga eruption was quite considerable.
But rainfall in NZ shows nothing that was not experienced prior to the eruption.
We may still see an effect in the future, but the last intense prolonged rainfall in the South West and Central Nth.Island of NZ was over 20 years ago.
10
Further to that, in this area the summers have been cool and without serious drought since the PDO phase change circa 1999.
So it would be good to see some actual rainfall figures to provide some basis for the claim of higher rainfalls since the eruption.
40
Doesn’t it rain one day in three over there? It was a major factor in us moving to inland Aussie, the beautiful cloudless sunny days of winter!
10
Excellent article by an actual liberal (not leftist) pro-immigration activist who discusses the difference between how ‘rapid response’ networks worked during Trump’s 1st term and what is happening now. She is (obviously) not a fan of Trump’s immigration policies, but she’s even less of a fan of what has become of rapid response networks she set up during Trump’s 1st term.
https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-pro-immigrant-activism-turned-dangerous/
200
Carbon footprint too large? Carbon rationing likely coming your way. Quite a scary read really
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/big-brother-is-watching-your-carbon-footprint/
81
The sky is falling.
We must go and tell the King.
160
The carbon they want to ration is YOU!
They are fundamentally anti-human, anti-natal Malthusians.
250
A new stronger version of Australia’s hate speech laws seems to have been thwarted for now. But it might only be just a temporary stay of its introduction.
https://dailysceptic.org/2026/01/22/right-wing-parties-must-stop-indulging-the-proponents-of-censorship/
90
Hate speech is whatever the government says it is.
Look to Germany for an example of what hate speech eventually gets defined as … criticizing politicians and their allies. Or in the case of the UK … criticizing politically favored policies (immigration).
Hate speech laws are the first link in your chains of government oppression. Reject them. Fight them. Or do nothing and accept your return to serfdom.
290
80
Dale Vince’s Ecojet crash and burn.
“A leading Labour donor has pulled the plug on plans to launch the world’s first all-electric airline. Dale Vince’s Ecojet is being wound up after the net zero tycoon withdrew all investment from the project, which had promised to become the “flag carrier for green Britain”.
https://x.com/NetZeroWatch/status/2014667738409525414
https://www.flightglobal.com/air-transport/liquidation-looms-for-ecojet-as-green-airline-fails-to-get-off-the-ground/166038.article
190
The airline could not take off because no electric airliner can take off. They have no idea of the physics involved. Pure fantasy.
221
I’m no aeronautical engineer, but I was under the impression that electric planes can take off, but landing them is a challenge because they weigh the same coming down that they did going up, while liquid-fueled planes drop a few hundred tons of weight while in the air due to fuel being burned off / dumped before landing.
170
This sort of thing was extensively looked at in the late 1970’s/80’s but the trend then was for hydrogen-powered aircraft.
Liquid hydrogen might be a lightweight fuel but requires very heavy cryogenic tanks and it’s a nightmare to handle. It might have an overall similar weight to a battery powered aircraft.
But hydrocarbon-fuelled aircraft e g. kerosene will be the lightest, most efficient of all.
If the woke don’t like it, they can stay at home, although they’re more likely to choose travel by private jet.
You’re right. They just don’t have a clue.
Having said that, there are examples of small electric aircraft that can actually take off, but have short range and duration and are suitable for low cost training or hobby use. And there are a few low seat count commuter hopefuls and DHL hope to run a fleet of package delivery aircraft (but it keeps getting delayed).
Developments in “electric” aircraft are tending toward hybrid designs but who wants the extra weight and complexity and therefore less reliability?
140
There are some electric planes but they are severely disadvantaged in range and cargo/passenger load compared with their fueled equivalents. Unlikely to be remedied by any battery developments in the near future. OK for Island hopping but what’s the point?
90
I remember reading about this last year and it was a case of “full steam ahead”.
Supposedly they had some short flight planes up and running and all they had to do was work out the problems with a long haul version.
I’m surprised they even thought that long haul was feasible.
50
That 40 tonnes of fuel burnt by a B-787 is seen as a big problem. It’s not much more than an expense really.
Operationally it means that the plane is 40 T lighter when landing than at take off. What’s there not to like about that? Modern high bypass jets are V powerful and can lift such weights into the air but the only way a battery can produce thrust AFAIK is via a propeller and a wartime B-17 needed four props to lift it’s 30 T gross TO weight. Technology for props hasn’t changed much in 80 yrs.
OTOH any battery plane is as heavy at landing as at take off. This is only acceptable in GA. Landing weight is not an issue if flying mum, dad and two brats Mackay to Hamilton Is. or for short flights in a flight school.
Besides, friends don’t allow friends to fly in battery powered aircraft.
100
If you want to see the UK government at work visit https://www.shoutoutuk.org/pathways/
That’s the online game which gave rise to the Amelia videos online. Give it a go if you want to see how the UK government treats teenagers.
Talk about harmful ideas. The game is chock full of what I consider to be harmful ideas like mangling the English language with grammatically incorrect pronouns, approving nods to teachers as thought police, warning of criminal consequences for failing to think correctly, recommending referral to authorities for official re-education, presentation of a limited range of game choices which deem you a radical unless you take the government approved pathway, and dozens of other hints on how to become more compliant to government policy and avoiding thought crimes.
Patronizing and disturbing are two terms to describe this government sponsored game. Remember, everything governments do is safe and effective not to mention totally gay.
I’m with the Amelia who tells viewers to be proud of English heritage. I hope my granddaughter of the same name grows up knowing how to speak up for herself.
For all I know I am now on a UK watch list. I suppose I’ll find out when the computer next says no.
200
I have to be careful what I say. I am wanting to go to the UK for my niece’s wedding this year. I don’t want to be arrested at Heathrow like Graham Linehan.
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John in NZ:
Just say you think that Starmer is doing a good job. You will not be arrested at Heathrow although you may be sent to the nearest Lunatic asylum (apart from Westminster that is).
200
Interestingly my London based son does say that Starmer is doing a good job. And has a mild case of TDS as do many of his friends and associates.
He’s a smart guy and a new father. He’ll figure it out eventually.
I haven’t figured out whether to talk to him about online Amelia given that is coincidentally also his new daughter’s name. The daughter came first!
60
From my observations TDS appears to be incurable in a lot of cases.
Orange Man Bad could announce a cure for all cancers has been discovered and the TDS sufferers would proclaim that Trump wants to put doctors out of work.
40
Which reminds me of the apocryphal story about when Bob Hawke was getting the rough end of the pineapple from the Australian media (and yes there really was such a time).
He called the media to the edge of Lake Burley Griffin and walked across the water from one side clean across to the other and back again. Didn’t even get his shoes wet. Let’s see the media spin that one against me he said.
Sure enough the headline the next day read … Hawke Can’t Swim.
30
Here is a link to an AI generated Amelia video.
Someone called Huff said “The prompts were simple.
First, I told @grok to look at every single Amelia meme on the Internet.
Second, I said: “Become Amelia, then make a video and tell the British people what you want them to know.”
Here’s the surprising result.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/2011978673331609945
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Outstanding.
Possibly illegal in Australia under the new “hate” speech laws. Our e Safety Kommissar will probably try to have it removed. But fortunately Musk (but no one in the Australian Government or the non-Opposition Liberals) will fight for us like he did last time.
I don’t see what’s wrong with loving a traditional peaceful British lifestyle, however, where e.g. women have rights of clothing choice and freedom from ethnically-based rape and violence and where people have freedom of speech to say they oppose such things etc.. Another example is two tier policing.
It’s not “hate” to oppose aspects of the engineered demographic change Once Great Britain is suffering.
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Apparently, Britain is the only country in the world not to have indigenous people.
120
Not sure about indigenous claims in the rest of the euro zone either John.
Maybe parts of Scotland and Ireland?
30
Good point. I forgot about them. White supremacists, the lot of them. Clearly not indigenous either.
20
“The police won’t help. They’re too busy confiscating gardening tools and suppressing free speech.”
Hey! Sounds like another british penal colony, now reborn.😆
120
My favourite bit is the stretched intonation when she says “but I don’t like that” because it is exactly the way my son’s partner would say it. And I can imagine my new granddaughter Amelia will grow up asserting herself in precisely the same way.
60
Go on! Wear that Stuck Farmer T-shirt! You’ll be right..
00
Video about:
Why Denocracy Rewards Idiots – Plato Saw it Coming 2,400 Years Ago
Australians are very familiar with this, as was Plato.
Plato recognised the Dunning-Kruger effect in politics before it had a name.
https://youtu.be/3gPhzTkh3F0
I don’t agree that the reasons given explain all of the evil and/or incompetence of most of our politicians but the factors presented are certainly important.
50
Of course, the useful idiots of the Left will be sad that TRUMP has secured a supply of rare earths for the Western world and the US at the expense of China (who have plenty anyway).
110
According to one source the order for rare earth reserves is
China 44
Brazil 21
India 6.9
Australia 5.7
USA 1.9 (although one source claims they have 13)
Anybody willing to help Trump take over Canberra’s government?
90
The USA and Canada both have plenty of rare earths. What they lack is mining companies who can turn a profit extracting them in the current regulatory environment. They have basically ceded the field to the Chicoms in order to appease the watermelon greens. Much like with nuclear power, the mining industry has been kneecapped by regulation. Cut red tape to the bone and watch both take off. Or don’t and allow the Chinese to maintain a stranglehold on the minerals that power much of the modern world.
100
This is a LONG game.
China has been “stitching up” the entire GLOBAL rare earth capacity for a couple of decades. It finally came to “public” notice about a decade ago, when Chinese “investors” started quietly buying a LOT of mining and exploration leases in the US; even though it was then, a minor player. China has plenty of some rare earths of its own. Maybe a few “geo-spooks could take a deeper dive.
See also: Australian primary industries.
40
Likewise silver, also mission critical in many industries, not least solar panels and EVs. China has been gobbling up all the silver they can get their hands on, stockpiling it for a few years now. This is part of the reason for silver’s recent price hikes.
Our idiot leaders meanwhile have done nothing in response. In fact, many western nations have been happily selling their silver to China, rubbing their hands together thinking they’re getting great prices. Once again, China is rewarded for its patience and foresight while we paddle blissfully toward the thundering waterfall.
100
The long game for the Chinese is several generations.
For the West its an election, never more than a year or two away.
70
Do you believe that? They are corrupt to the core and corruption is, almost by definition, single generational.
11
I disagree, at least with respect to China. A lot of the corruption we hear about is actually part of their culture, and many of their geopolitical ambitions are based on beliefs hundreds of years old.
01
America has their own REs, they just want others to do the polluting bit. And they are friends of Aus (ATM anyway) and we will sell to them at market prices.
10
FWIW
“Historic Graphite Mine in New York Marks Start of Made‑in‑America Battery Supply Chain
Four other graphite mines are poised to be part of the new supply chain as Tesla opens up a huge lithium refinery operation. Both moves signal a return of American critical mineral dominance.”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/01/historic-graphite-mine-in-new-york-marks-start-of-made-in-america-battery-supply-chain/
10
FWIW
Assorted weekend readings in today’s Coffee and Covid newsletter –
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/hit-by-the-peace-board-friday-january?
60
FWIW – Goes with that
Latest Kunstler
“Up in Smoke
“This is how tyranny looks in the modern world. It arrives dressed as dialogue, consensus, and expertise. It is imposed by people who sincerely believe they are doing nothing at all.” —DataRepublican”
https://www.kunstler.com/p/up-in-smoke
50
“Mr. Trump just notified the parties involved that an agreement dating from 1951 gives the USA “unrestricted access” to Greenland, for the excellent reason that the US military prevented the Nazis from seizing it during World War Two, with all that implies. Fait accompli. The USA will now do what it requires in Greenland “
Too bad the Lamestream media didn’t look that up last week..
One Nation is scaring them, there’s a propaganda-filled piece in the SMH this morning trying to show why Pauline Hanson’s policies either won’t work (as reviewed by the usual Far-left bunch of ‘experts’) or that the Govt is already going to do what Pauline proposes. However, this bit seems to work for Trump-
“A One Nation-led government would withdraw from the United Nations, Paris Agreement, and the World Health Organisation, as well as reduce foreign aid spending. The tens of billions proposed to be saved from these measures would help reduce federal debt levels, the party says.”
..and if you wonder why we have endless inflation destroying anyone who saves their wealth, this is from an ‘independent’ economist saying One Nation have no economic knowledge-
“He said Australian politics was fundamentally supportive of price growth, so even if the borders are shut, as they were for many months during the COVID pandemic, measures were introduced to avoid prices collapsing.”
Sharper minds might wonder if the plan is to push everyone into higher tax brackets perhaps..
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-trumpian-policies-pauline-hanson-would-roll-out-if-one-nation-ran-australia-20260123-p5nwft.html
20
I thought Trump was rolling out Hansonian policies. She’s had most of hers for years.
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Remember the old adage that it’s not a good idea until the right person has had the idea.
40
Alas, I lack the necessary accreditation to read anything on substack without hitting escape and thwarting its login procedure; dashed inconvenient what.
00
Viewed a recent report that since late December, over 1,000 Ukrainian civilians were hospitalised with hypothermia diagnosis, largely due to Russian strikes on civilian power and heating infrastructure.
It has been a brutally cold start to the year in Ukraine, with -20C temperatures common.
So what is worse – heat or cold? Give me heat any day.
100
All very sad. As any student of the WWII Siege of Stalingrad knows war in that part of the world is utterly brutal.
The sooner the Ukraine surrenders and sues for peace the better.
72
Also working through “The Russo-Ukrainian War” by Serhii Plokhy (2023). It seems that all iterations of “Ukrainians” from the 15th century grabbed independence whenever it was possible. This was emphatically settled in 1991….
This included the Ukrainian Donbas (84%) and the Crimea (54%).
So given any chance, Ukrainians do not want to be subjugated again.
20
I think it is mistake to talk about the Ukranians as though they are a homogeneous population.
The most obvious evidence of differing views is that the Kiew government has said that it will not include all citizens in any future referendum or election.
There has been a civil war there for years with the part now being occupied by Russia being the victims of the Kiew government. And no doubt you as a student of the area can add more details to internal conflicts.
And then there is the corruption which has made successive governments little more than playthings for external powers.
Nothing is ever clear cut and there will be much to sort out after the Ukraine surrender and sues for peace.
30
“Nothing is ever clear cut and there will be much to sort out after the Ukraine surrender and sues for peace.”
Maybe not, Russia will administer the East, America the West and the locals will do as they are told.
So it won’t be any more corrupt than under Biden, but that’s a low bar!
00
Forget all that, Ukraine was invaded by a megalomaniac and he must be stopped. Ukraine is going to win and the people of the Russian Federation finally freed from a dystopian nightmare.
Putin has cut off the world wide web to his own people, a huge strategic mistake.
The world has been turned upside down and there are whispers that Trump is already a lame duck and will soon leave office. My gut feeling is that they’ll ignore JD, what do you think?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession
06
Since 1991, the Russian Govt has adopted the “long march through the institutions” as a strategy to infiltrate eastern Ukraine, as it has done to the Baltic States and Georgia before. Your “victims” were the clandestine aggressors.
An endemic post-Soviet problem – it takes decades to change this behavior.
After Russia has lost 1 million plus during the war by emptying out its jails and detention camps, there will be plenty of room to hold Ukrainian men in the traditional Soviet way if there is a surrender. It won’t happen.
21
I haven’t seen much ‘will of the people’ in my longish lifetime.
‘Will of the people’ in my experience, is just a manipulated by mantle claimed by power brokers.
Isn’t the Ukraine thing really about strategic access to the Black Sea?
And devolved into the proving ground for the modern era of drone warfare tech.
As an ordinary mid-wit American, I don’t have major desire to take a warm water Navy port from the Ruskies.
I was taught Commies bad.
I don’t think the Ruskies are Commie anymore.
The new mayor of NYC is.
I didn’t care much who ran Afghanistan either.
I think I can see the benefit in controlling Greenland and Venezuela.
But I’m stuck living in a one party Democrat (Neo Commie) US state.
(We’re supposed to call them Democrat Socialists, just like I’m supposed to call a man a women.)
I don’t even get a POTUS vote.
In my state, very few Republicans even bother to run for office because the system is legally rigged.
So like Ukraine, my political desires don’t mean squat, expect for what the overlords decide to tell me I think.
40
Currently reading a work of fiction from 1999 that involves the US attempting to annex an island for national security reasons. Sound familiar? One of the tactics employed was to offer the Island residents American citizenship. I wonder if this tactic was considered by the current US protagonists – it might well work. BTW – it was a Colin Forbes book – “This United State”.
Then came across another work of fiction on UTube – possibly AI generated, but made for a great short story. It was Senate Leaders Cut Ties with Trump. Below is an excerpt:
“Title 18, United States Code section 2384” does exist.
30
I am often surprised at the things authors write and what inspires the topics.
Sometimes I wonder whether time travel is real and this is the future speaking. At other times I’m pretty sure it is just space aliens messing with the human mind.
10
Yes
The deal being batted about is to make them a territory of the United States, where residents have full American citizenship. Basically the same setup as Puerto Rico and Guam. They wouldn’t need a passport to travel to America and could even choose to move there if they wanted.
If Greenland really does have the right to self-determine, it seems like a pretty easy win to just bribe all 40K registered voters with a million dollars to switch from Denmark to the USA. $40 billion is a drop in the bucket. Heck, Elon paid more than that to buy Twitter.
40
It seems to have moved on a bit from there in recent days.
10
Thanks Rowjay, it feels like a bloodless coup is turning up.
They will ease him out of power on medical grounds, advanced dementia.
It seems unlikely that JD Vance will get the nod, the executive branch is in tatters.
06
Wow. I want some of what you’re having.
What colour is the sky on your planet?
50
“They will ease him out of power on medical grounds, advanced dementia.”
“It seems to have moved on a bit from there in recent days.”
Yes, catch up EG, Biden is not the President anymore!
40
We saw that Regan was propped up by Nancy and Biden had others slightly more capable, but Trump is all alone and won’t survive.
Abuse of the War Powers Act is the catalyst for a bipartisan coup.
05
Orange? Is the sky on your planet orange?
20
Dr Judy Ryan.
Does anyone know anything about Dr Judy Ryan, climate warrior, who lived in Canberra. She ser up and was the editor of Principia Scientific International (Australia).
CLINTEL lists her as deceased.
https://clintel.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/WCD-251116.pdf
20
Apparently she supported Peter Ridd in court in June 2021.
30
FWIW
“Titanic Director James Cameron Reveals Why He Fled America for ‘Sane’ New Zealand”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15486201/james-cameron-moves-new-zealand-trump.html
and
Conclusion –
“Beege Welborn
Sanity had nothing to do with it, obviously, either coming or going.
And…um…bye.”
https://hotair.com/headlines/2026/01/23/titanic-director-james-cameron-reveals-why-he-fled-america-for-sane-new-zealand-n3811109
Doesn’t look like a gain for NZ’s IQ
20
It would be interesting to know Cameron’s attitude to Kennedy’s health measures.
10
https://commonsenseorganics.co.nz/blog/cameron-family-farms/
20
1970-1980 Fraser Coalition Government, PM Fraser was talking to NZ PM Muldoon about the many citizens of NZ who had moved to live in Australia, PM Muldoon replied that should raise the IQ of both nations.
At another time in NZ Parliament there was debate on identifying people by skin colour and was it offensive, on the flight home afterwards PM Muldoon was asked if he would like tea or coffee, he chose tea, the steward asked “black or white” and he replied “brown please”.
20
“At another time in NZ Parliament there was debate on identifying people by skin colour ”
Yes, if you’re going to run an apartheid system like NZ and Australia, you need to have objective definitions of which box to put individual people into. In the end it all got too hard for popularity-sensitive politicians and it became ‘you are a maori if you feel like one’.. kinda like what sex you are, and just as scientific!
40
I find it a little puzzling that the left have such a binary approach to skin colour, yet when it comes to gender, it’s a ‘spectrum’.
It’s all very well characterising everything as white vs black, but as we’ve seen here in Oz with respect to aboriginality, it’s possible to be an Australian aborigine with blonde hair and blue eyes. So just how are we supposed to know who is white and who is black? At what point do mixed-race people turn white? Does it require a DNA test? Perhaps a new position must be created: The Judge of Colour.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m having trouble figuring out who’s who in the zoo, when a blonde guy can be aboriginal, then put lipstick on and become a woman. Then again, if a Somalian burglar can transform himself into an engineer just by getting in an inflatable …
I guess the only thing we can be sure of is that we can’t be sure about ANYTHING.
10
Canuks, eh – they say the funniest things. As do a number of homegrown film stars, ie. Xena, Damien, who are card-carrying Jacindaphiles and jib-jabphiles yet oddly hydrocarbonphobic (an irrational fear of CO2) despite the industry which made them rich & famous being overtly ‘carbon-heavy’ – I do the occasional job on film/TV sets so I’d better be tactful yet it’s one of the most fossil fuel-reliant industries, apart from the rubbish/trash/product of a toxic nature it uses once then it’s off to the landfill.
When you wish upon a star…
20
‘Doesn’t look like a gain for NZ’s IQ’
The bags of money he brings should more than compensate.
21
FWIW – read it all
“The Brain Microplastics Claim and the Collapse of Scientific Restraint”
“For a brief and revealing moment, the public was told—without irony—that the human brain is now “full of plastic.” ”
“The he phrase was not metaphorical. It was literal, repeated across major outlets with the confidence usually reserved for gravity or photosynthesis. Readers were assured that microplastics, and even nanoplastics, had accumulated in brain tissue at concentrations high enough to be weighed, compared, and graphed over time. Some reports helpfully translated this into household imagery, offering estimates equivalent to spoons or teaspoons of plastic lodged in the mind. The implication was unmistakable: modern life had quietly transformed the brain into a synthetic landfill.
The study responsible for this frenzy appeared in a prestigious medical journal, which lent it instant authority.”
(Nature Medicine 03 Feb 2025)
“The press release did the rest. Few journalists paused to ask the most basic question in analytical science: how, exactly, was “plastic” identified inside one of the most lipid-rich organs in the human body? Fewer still asked whether the methods used were capable of distinguishing polymer fragments from ordinary biological molecules that share similar chemical signatures when thermally decomposed. The story was too good to slow down for that.
And that is precisely where the embarrassment begins.”
(Also Nature Medicine 13 Nov 2025)
“That framing collapses under even modest scrutiny.
Py-GC-MS is not a magic “plastic detector.” It is a powerful but blunt instrument. The method works by heating a sample until it decomposes, then analyzing the resulting fragments. Those fragments are matched to reference spectra to infer what compounds were present before pyrolysis. This works well when the target material has a distinctive decomposition pattern and the surrounding matrix is simple or well-controlled. Brain tissue is neither.
Human brain tissue is composed largely of lipids—cholesterol, phospholipids, sphingolipids, long-chain fatty acids—many of which, when pyrolyzed, generate hydrocarbons and alkene fragments that overlap substantially with those produced by polyethylene. This is not an obscure technical footnote. It is a known, documented limitation of the method. In lipid-rich matrices, pyrolysis products from biological material can mimic polymer signatures unless digestion, cleanup, and marker selection are exceptionally rigorous.
The critique published in response to the study did not argue about policy, health impacts, or ideology. It argued about chemistry.”
“Instead, the public was handed a conclusion masquerading as a discovery.
[snip]
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/23/the-brain-microplastics-claim-and-the-collapse-of-scientific-restraint/
40
That all sounds exactly like using PCR to diagnose Covid, but obviously they had a better journal behind them.
40
FWIW
“A Surprise Last Minute Reprieve Arises in Starmer’s Chagos Island Treachery”
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/01/23/a-surprise-last-minute-reprieve-arises-in-starmers-chagos-island-treachery-n3811166
Something of a “fuster” you might say?
40
All women’s problems start with MEN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX_WIVOu3_o
You don’t have to watch it all.
00
Very funny but it’s the kind of thing which can get you into trouble if said in mixed company.
I quite liked the bit with famous Bush quotes. My favourite is that he knew human beings and fish could coexist peacefully. He was a funny guy. That is Biden funny not Trump funny or Reagan funny.
00
FWIW – another go!
“South Korea’s Developing Net Zero Debacle”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/23/south-koreas-developing-net-zero-debacle/
10
This is serious.
‘Germany is facing calls to withdraw its billions of euros’ worth of gold from US vaults, spurred on by the shift in transatlantic relations and the unpredictability of Donald Trump.
‘Germany holds the world’s second biggest national gold reserves after the US, of which approximately €164bn (£122bn) worth – 1,236 tonnes – is stored in New York’ (Guardian).
12
You have assumed that the gold doesn’t exist, that it has been leant out, hypothecated. You are not alone but do you KNOW this?
Act in haste, repent at leisure. The group “You” also cheer on BRICS, hoping to topple King Dollar. What happens then? In the absence of a trusted currency of exchange things may revert to central banks paying debts by moving gold. That is simpler if each country keeps their gold in the Bank of London and a doddering old gentleman moves the gold between “accounts” on a pallet jack.
ATM Russia is flying gold around the world to meet obligations. Germany would need to do the same if they repatriated all their gold.
Is that what WWIII will look like?
20
You have assumed an awful lot about what LG meant rather than what he said and them wove a story around it. A sensitive topic?
40
So why is there a SERIOUS problem when Germany wants their gold moved?
10
It shows lack of confidence in the American administration and US Bonds are also going south.
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They’ve already withdrawn 675tons in the last decade. They asked for it back and the Yanks said ‘No!”, so Germany insisted and slowly gold bars were dribbled out to give them.
Then they complained that the bars they got were not the ones they deposited, they were fresh bars that had been remelted and cast, instead of the hall-marked originals.
They’ve realised-
““The truth is, we trusted the dollar system after World War II because we had no choice,” Boehringer said. “But it’s no longer just about trust. It’s about control. If your reserves are abroad, you don’t really own them.””
Ahem… Russia’s reserves being stolen may be having an influence perhaps?
https://www.kitco.com/news/article/2025-06-27/why-central-banks-are-pulling-gold-us-and-why-it-started-germany
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FWIW
“QotD: Higher education”
“Back in the 1980s, I took an interest in Latin American guerrilla movements, especially in Central America. The general consensus among those who took an interest in such matters was that they were caused by the intolerable conditions of the poor, oppressed peasantry who rose up spontaneously against them. This was complete nonsense, of course. This is not to say that the peasantry was not poor and oppressed, but poor and oppressed peasants are rarely capable of more than a jacquerie, a kind of rural riot that exhausts itself and results in the oppressors coming back stronger than ever.
No; I came to the conclusion that the cause of the revolutionary guerrilla movements was the expansion of tertiary education in countries where it had not long before been the province only of the elite, largely, though never entirely, hereditary. (For the poor, gifted, and ambitious, the army was the route to social ascension.)”
More at
https://quotulatiousness.ca/blog/2026/01/22/qotd-higher-education/
Via https://instapundit.com/771641/#disqus_thread
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The last couple of early evenings in SA , our “renewables” leader have been interesting. 20% off demand covered by the mainly brown coal and gas supported VIC interconnector and locally mid 50% supported by gas turbines. Those billions spent on solar and wind really pay off on hot summer nights dont they?
It won’t stop the “renewables” clown car of politicians in VIC , NSW and Canberra surge toward the the precipice. It also won’t stop the idiots in the ACT claiming they are 100% renewable while tonight sitting in the middle of the 80% black coal powered NSW grid.
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And every 20-25 years remove, repair foundations and start all over again.
Subject to favourable cost-benefit analysis and shareholder’s approval.
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FWIW
“Constraint Payments Soar to New Record”
“Britain’s wind farm turbines wasted enough energy to power all of London’s homes last year, new figures show.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/24/constraint-payments-soar-to-new-record/
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