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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Trump Admin To Launch New Free-Speech Site To Combat BBC Censorship
Vast segments of the British population appear to know little beyond the lying propaganda dished out by the BBC. So in response to the rising tide of censorship in Britain, the State Department is launching Freedom.gov “Making the First Amendment GLOBAL”, which will give users worldwide access to content that has been censored by the BBC, OFCOM (Ministry of Truth), the Inquiries Act (2005), Operation Talla, Operation Messenger, Secret Courts, secret DSMA-Notices, secret Super-Injunctions and secret non-disclosure agreements. The U.S. Embassy in London has reported lots of secret crimes, committed by the British Establishment, to the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). These secrets will become available to the British public on ‘Freedom.gov’. This will give a voice to the millions of people censored by the British Establishment controlled media, including the half million vaccine injured and half million victims of rape. This is an American mission to celebrate its 250th birthday by commemorating its commitment to free expression, and independence from the British Establishment. Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom said “if your government fears freedom—ours doesn’t.”
302
Commendable.
The natural reaction of those who fear a loss of control will of course be:
1. putting entire nations inside firewalls with populations only able to see the world through a narrow window; and
2. generation of vast quantities of computer generated fakery in targeted countermeasures.
And that’s just for starters. Good luck everybody!
80
It’s getting more like North Korea and the old East Germany every day.
92
Talk about The Lucky Country.
Guess who is coming to dinner.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360943710/small-town-mayor-australia-gets-real-thrill-over-surprise-encounter-jacinda-ardern
60
During the Fraser Government period in Australia the New Zealand Prime Minister Muldoon received a complaint while visiting Australia from Prime Minister Fraser who pointed out that New Zealand citizens moving to Australia (as they are entitled to do and underlined by the Closer Economic Relations Agreement 1980s, and New Zealand having been attached to the British Colony of New South Wales as part of the colony and governed from Sydney) and taking advantage of at that time better economic conditions in Australia.
Prime Minister Muldoon considered this for a moment or two and replied “that would raise the IQ of both countries”.
90
Australian politicians around election time then complained that Kiwis were coming over and going on the dole while they went surfing. That got NZers removed from any welfare over here, even though surveys found the Kiwi’s unemployment was lower than the average Aussie’s, and they had jobs that earned more.
As I noted yesterday, ol’ Horseface should be looking for a house in Western Sydney to suit the electorate she claimed to represent, not nobbing it like all the other Communists in Northern beaches.
100
While the apparent welfare rorting was widely acknowledged one that got through to the keeper was that many construction union members also came over while NZ’s longest running (to date) industrial action/strike was underway. Between 1978-80 the Mangere bridge project was closed with picket lines and union action over a claim of poor redundancy payments that were to be paid when the project finished and workers ended their (contracted?) tenure. Didn’t the workers and/or union know what completion of the project would involve before they got involved??!??
Whisper was a lot came over and worked on projects here…. looking at the monster that the CFMEU apparently morphed into over the years it would appear that a fair few of them may not have gone back but stayed on in administrative roles….
30
Motor cycle enthusiasts?
sarc
20
In fact while the each side pieces stood for some 2 years with the connecting bit in the middle missing there was talk of renaming it the Evel Knievel bridge.
Seems delays to the “bit in the middle” are a global issue.
10
New Zealand Prime Minister “Piggy” Muldoon. There fixed it. But a true story.
The site feels almost “crisp” this morn. Congrats!
50
That was him, and another tale about his humour was a time when skin colour and race was being debated in Wellington House of Parliament, PM Muldoon was on a commercial airline flight to Auckland and a steward asked him if he would prefer tea or coffee, he said tea, and the steward asked black or white tea Sir, and he replied “brown thank you”.
21
Around the same (skin colour and race debate) time that great NZ firm Fisher and Paykel were threatened with legal action for calling their washing machines “White Goods”. Apparently the board was most concerned at the potential bad publicity and set up a group to investigate what the best course of action should be. After a couple of weeks the group presented their findings which stated that the business should continue to call their washing machines “White Goods” but produce them all with a brown agitator.
41
That was sneaky.
🙂
20
Well that fitted real life experiences
10
Earl,
In 1978 I was seated behind Sir John Kerr, Tehran to Sydney.
Hostile said “ please give me your attention for a safety demonstration”.
From the seat ahead “Not another demonstration”. Geoff S
10
If I recall correctly the lucky country words sprang from the idea of a country bumbling along despite mediocre leadership. Perhaps she has found an appropriate home.
10
RealClear Politics Is Right: The Climate Hoax Is a Massive Financial Scam
From ClimateREALISM
By Linnea Lueken
RealClear Politics recently posted an article titled “Was Climate Change the Greatest Financial Scam in History?” in which Stephen Moore argues that the trillions of dollars spent on climate action have had no effect in stopping climate change but has slowed development and poverty reduction. Moore is right. Not only has the spending resulted in no change in the rate of warming or reductions in the increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide, but the money was spent in a way that made life worse for people around the globe.
Moore references the climate spending estimate recently calculated by Bjorn Lomborg, which comes out to at least $16 trillion over the past 30 years.
“And for what?” asks Moore, “not a single life has been or will be saved by this shameful and colossal misallocation of human resources.
“The war on safe and abundant fossil fuels has cost countless lives in poor countries and made those countries poorer by blocking affordable energy,” Moore continued.
This is absolutely true.
Fossil fuels are cheaper, more reliable, and more energy dense than renewable energy sources. Mainstream media outlets regularly claim that renewables like wind and solar are cheaper because their “fuel” –the wind and sunlight—are free. That’s true but largely irrelevant. The collection of that energy is not free, not even close. The most commonly referenced metric for the cost of different energy sources is the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE). However, the LCOE measurement ignores many of the major costs that are unique to intermittent resources like wind and solar. These include special subsidies only they receive via renewables credits, the cost of backing the power up for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, massive overbuilding, and transmission costs to remote areas.
More at –
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/02/26/realclear-politics-is-right-the-climate-hoax-is-a-massive-financial-scam/
Australia is a great example of the above.
Vale Australia.
310
The scam seems to have benefited China and no one else.
210
I’d be checking for snouts in the trough as well.
100
That’s what POTUS Trump believes and he is right
91
I made the point re the Somali pirates in Minnesota that there is a big difference between spending money and being defr@uded for it. The money stolen is gone without a trace, mainly into the pockets of the pirates. The money COULD have built the USS Ford, a wasteful spend in many eyes, but such money has a multiplier effect which increases employment and taxes which flow back to the government. Same with the climate scam – most lost, never to be seen again. But China doesn’t benefit either, to much waste and fr@ud there too.
51
Rabobank less than upbeat report on geo- politics?
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/one-battle-after-another
30
“the CME had to halt trading on its flagship metals market for more than an hour again yesterday due to “technical” issues. That does speak to how what we once thought was the global architecture is rapidly breaking down.”
These damm people buying real metal instead of paper promises… it upsets the whole carefully crafted fake market!
40
Scurrilous rum our- mongers say that 32,000 contracts were “ settled” during the “ technical issues”.
Deplorables!
00
Senator Malcolm Roberts (Australia) interrogates a $313,000++ per year public serpent about “what is a woman” and other matters, he’s excellent:
https://youtu.be/98kvHPwu8hE
131
Can’t explain what a woman is.
Immediately can call out misogyny.
Irony much?
120
Irony?
You are too kind.
Mendacious.
Duplicitous.
That’s better.
40
His questions were simple, direct and very much worth asking.
Her answers were full of words apparently intended to fill time and avoid saying things she could be held accountable for. And to avoid providing information he could not easily find out another way.
As an efficiency suggestion I suggest giving the questions on notice, filtering her answers through software which permits only answers of 5 lines of less than 50 characters.
And then replace her with the computer which filters her answers.
And as for the things objecting to Roberts questions, be warned that you will be first up against the wall after the revolution!
72
Like when recently Liberal Senator Paterson questioned Labor Minister for Finance Senator Gallagher about relatively simple financial matters and she could not answer, looked very uncomfortable while desperately texting on her phone, no doubt to a staffer.
90
He is very good and very well informed
81
Fits here IMO
“woman president”
https://patriotpost.us/memes/125405-woman-president-2026-02-25
Via SDA
30
Take the money and run….
“https://patriotpost.us/memes/125160-big-trouble-2026-02-16”
Some people are so clever…
00
Society has to rebel about even more fundamental concepts. Here is a big one.
At the base of this climate change/net zero topic is the dominant belief by a majority of people the “protection of the environment” is a real need and that society will suffer if we all do not act to satisfy this belief as a top priority.
In reality, that belief is no more than an advertising campaign funded by green groups with sucker money from a few wealthy folk with more money than they know how to manage. Think Andrew Forrest for one.
This “save the environment” pap is juvenile propaganda. It does not need owners and managers and money because it is self-evident. It is like a campaign invented on catch words like “save our babies, they are weak and need strong care. Send money here.” Not many people are born thinking that babies will be treated badly if nothing is done. Likewise, not many people were born thinking “the environment” will be treated badly if nothing is done. The default position is that the big majority of people know to care for babies and the environment. They do not need green groups to educate them with what they fundamentally know.
It ain’t broke, so don’t try to fix it.
Geoff S
151
In reality, the environment is the Universe.
But in Newspeak, as you point out, the “environment” is the koalas and the whales and the polar bears.
71
Even if you limit the context of ‘the environment’ to within the earth’s atmosphere, greens and environmentalists never seem to acknowledge that HUMANS are also part of the environment. We are part of the natural order of things, and all of our flaws and foibles are 100% natural. The ‘environment’ they want to preserve is one that has for curated and shaped by our ancestors for thousands of years.
We eat other animals … just like every other predator.
We eat any animal we want … just like every other alpha predator.
We alter the environment to suit our preferences … just like thousands of other species.
Humans are part of the ‘natural order’ and trying to preserve that order by asking humans to go against their nature is … unnatural.
151
Kurd uprising to be triggered by U.S.strike on Iran?
https://www.rt.com/news/633080-can-us-use-this-ethnic-conflict/
20
Looks like the back room foreign policy makers operating under Sleepy Joe are about to realise some success.
Mmmmm how much money and military equipment was left behind when that hasty exit was made? As the Russians (and now maybe not so much) Americans found out primitive mountain dwelling tribes with rifles and improvised explosive devices are hard to defeat sooooo primitive mountain dwelling tribes with latest technology rocket launches, drones etc might just be even harder.
00
Australians want a conservative party like One Nation, not the Lib/Lab Uniparty who together passed censorship laws which are or will be misused to silence One Nation.
90
There’s nearly always some form of sexual deviancy associated with prominent Leftists.
70
And who knew B!ll Gate$ played bridge or had a fondness for nukular fizzicks of the Russky kind? [sic]
50
When I first read of “bridge tournaments” connecting Gates and Russian hookers I went to Urban Dictionary but drew a blank. So they really DID play bridge. 🙂
20
Epstein appeared rather well connected to Norway.
40
The world would be a better place if fathers taught their sons to either keep it zipped up or pay by the hour.
And of course if mothers taught their daughters to use their charms for good and not evil. But I think that is a bridge too far.
31
…but then we’d never find out where all the naughty people are found!
00
The smart money would be for all to step in behind one nation and shape them into a slightly more palatable shape.
splitting the right vote is Labours goal. They will achieve this me thinks if a bit thought is not injected into recourse.
70
Well Bill Treuren; the local Liberal Party hasn’t injected a bit of thought into their election waffle, by saying that they would build a gas turbine plant which “would make electricity cheaper”.
My first thought was that they haven’t looked about the current demand for such generators (world wide) and the delay times.
My second thought was that the SA bureaucracy would take many years to do something.
My third thought was that they aren’t going to win the election anyway, indeed they will struggle to get any seats in the next Parliament.
60
Gulag AI says:
There are similar wait times for power stations.
Australia’s energy crisis is not soluble any time soon, even if we got a rational non-Lib/Lab government in every single state and federally, and even then, there would be the usual lawfare from the Left and bureaucratic delays.
Even refurbishment of the few remaining power stations might not be possible because companies that do it will be busy building new power stations in pro-energy countries.
90
David,
with all that, do not forget the transformers,
they take yonks to build.
Do not expect anything before about 2034.
Well after the Olympics have been and gone.
40
If we take away all the rules about electricity and just purchased the cheapest power over a 24 hour period then surely coal, gas and hydro could supply most of the demand at a much cheaper price than we are paying now.
The price for electricity would be cut immediately.
110
I may be misinterpreting your “24 hour period” as meaning that each and every minute we could choose to buy from anybody we want. On the other hand, you may be advocating for bids for supply in 24 hour blocks.
Compelling bids for 24 hour blocks may have the effect of requiring intermittent generators to figure out how to cover the gaps in their supply. That would be a very good thing rather than pretending there is a market which can efficiently do that same job.
70
You cannot just pop down to “Turbines-R-Us” and pick up a take-away power station, be it nuclear, coal, gas or water powered.
This is NOT “LEGO” for big kids. It is actual engineering. Bureaucrats and Eco-[SNIP]ED; NOT WELCOME.
CONSTANT (24 / 7 / 365.25) supply of “fuel”? (Nuclear, coal, gas, water). Water supply is VITAL for turning into steam to drive the turbines which are attached to the ginormous “alternators”?
Sub-stations / transformers to provide the Extra High Voltages for transmission to the “customers”? (US!)?
The actual “transmission lines” (and towers)? And the “CLEARWAY to run the cables and towers
More substations near the customers to STEP DOWN the high transmission voltage for local distribution and use?
You know: All the stuff nobody wants to talk about.
[
Sorry about the snip but that word is a problem.] ED
10
An external supply of water isn’t always required. The neat little SMR in China that has been supplying commercial power since December 2023 is located in a desert region. And other SMR designers are looking at designs that incorporate closed-cycle cooling methods.
20
Wood and Mackenzie’s latest report on gas turbines sheds some light on the problems: https://www.woodmac.com/blogs/energy-pulse/supply-chain-constraints-limit-the-growth-of-gas/
Which comments on the statements from the big three gas turbine manufacturers, GE Vernova, Siemens Energy and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. All plan to significantly up their turbine manufacture. However, AI seems correct that there will be delivery delays out to 2030.
20
I understand that there are some differences in the models but there is quite a demand currently for turbine assemblies for use in AIRPLANES.
Basic economics says the price will go up unless more sources of supply are found/created.
20
G4,
This suggests that there is a vital project for Australians of many skills, to get involved in the global electrical generation industry by building turbines, transformers etc when there is a clear market demand.
When I was a young fella, we designed and built Australian aeroplanes. My company even purchased a couple of N-22 Nomads. (I never got to fly one. Too tall for the seats. They were shifted 4 inches forward when it was realised that the plane of the 2 propellers included the heads of the pilots). Geoff S
00
With all admiration for P. Hanson personality, my hope is in Malcolm Roberts, the Senator – not very charismatic but, I prey, there would be young growth around him, able to turning one of protest parties into Opposition.
72
It is widely acknowledged now in political circles and people who interrupt the numbers and trends that One Nation has no hope of increasing from only One MP in the House of Representatives at the 2028 election, that MP being a former recent National Party MP. He has commented that the focus is on gaining more Senate (States House) seats to gain influence and possibly balance of power at times.
Remember the Australian Democrats, Don Chip a former Liberal the founder, “keep the bastards honest” was his favourite saying and AD did gain a number of Senate seats, but now long gone and past history.
The point is that Labor will be returned to Federal Government based on preference distribution in 2028 as in 2022 and 2025 unless voters rebel and if they choose a One Nation candidate (I am not complaining) they must ensure that from first preference [ 2 ] down they put Liberal/National/LNP candidate [ 2 ] and Labor last on the ballot paper, Greens above Labor.
Yesterday I read and heard that One Nation intends to oppose Labor and the Coalition at every opportunity, including preferences.
41
One Nation was established in Queensland, Pauline Hanson is from Ipswich near Brisbane, and she/they did manage to win many State seats late 1990s, but during the early 2000s they lost most of those seats and assessed to reflect protest vote based votes in the first instance (election) that faded thereafter.
10
In 2000 Liberals were the Party.
10
One Nation officially known as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Queensland Division, was founded on April, 1997, by Pauline Hanson and her co-founders David Oldfield and David Ettridge.
The party gained significant attention and support, achieving over 22% of the vote in the 1998 Queensland state election and several State seats.
I moved to Queensland when I retired from the business world in 2001 and experienced a One Nation local electorate member who was quite good and active.
20
“The smart money would be for all to step in behind one nation and shape them into a slightly more palatable shape.”
…and we would end up with the Liberals, which is what the advisors and advertising executives have already done to the Right. Smooth, good-looking, bland and no aims, principles or morals at all! Hanson wants power to change things, the rest all just want power at any cost!
Who do we think Ol’ Horseface will join when she settles here? Time for a ‘female’ Labor leader to take over the country? A Kiwi is almost an Aussie..
01
Really? That mouthful of teeth has set her sights on something so low as Australian domestic politics.
Last I saw she was destined for world domination. How the mighty have fallen!
20
Looking at One Nation’s platform they seem to be casting a wide net.
https://www.onenation.org.au/issues
Which planks can the Lib/Nats agree upon?
01
The Coalition might baulk at this, but I strongly believe they should adopt the idea.
‘One Nation will advocate for the construction of three new black coal ultra-supercritical (USC) power plants …’
It would force the greens, teals and Labor to argue their case in parliament, reported by the MSM. We cannot lose this debate.
42
Dutton Plan highlighted seven new nuclear power stations/plants and retaining all other electricity supply installations which of course includes coal fired.
And as for building new say HELE technology power stations the Coalition never ruled that out, after all most of the electricity generated now is from coal fuel.
20
Dutton shouldn’t have considered nuclear power, it was never going to get up, this is no time to fly kites.
They need to go with coal fired power stations, like China and India, the electorate will accept the argument that our present renewable direction is insane.
01
All this talk suggests to me that the many fragmented realists about national electrical generation should forget grubby politics and form the POWER PARTY, with clear policies to cut through the propaganda and give Australia the best mix of generators. Do not include net zero or protection of the environment in the planning, simply use best engineering available and relevant here.
G4, I am a little ashamed of you if you have swallowed the green anti-nuclear pill. Do you also have the TDS illness? Some folk are more easily led by the nose than others are.
Geoff S
10
With due consideration for One Nation’s only Federal House of Representatives MP a recently transferred Nationals MP and former Deputy Prime Minister earlier Barnaby Joyce, and recruits several former Coalition MPs including Senators, and earlier policies that are often or mostly very similar to the Liberal and National Coalition broad based mission statements.
10
‘ … mostly very similar …’
Yeah but …
‘One Nation supports embracing nuclear energy as a central part of Australia’s long term energy mix.’
I think this is a mistake unless Albo calls for a public debate on nuclear power.
01
Morrison AUKUS Pillar 2.0 supported by Labor and purchase of nuclear submarines followed by design and building next generation SSN AUKUS nuclear submarines, Albanese Labor signed a contract with Rolls-Royce UK early in 2025 and placed orders for nuclear reactors.
Mid 2025 Labor at a Conference in Singapore signed with 14 other countries an Indo Pacific Region agreement that all signatory nations could build nuclear power stations and plants and in December Indonesia was first to announce a plan for 20 locations.
Late 2025 Labor approved ANSTO plans to upgrade the Opal nuclear reactor designed to produce radio isotopes and for research purposes, Opal is the third to be built and operated on that location at Lucas Heights, a Sydney suburb.
10
That is newsworthy.
https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/media-releases/2026-02-24/albanese-government-announces-acquisition-long-lead-items-aukus-nuclear-propulsion-systems
Its one thing to have them on nuclear submarines, but not in my backyard as Dutton proposed.
21
The 1st of March may see the 1st troppo of the season: scientists shocked at the lack of activity during one of the most non-eventful summers EVAAAH!
https://www.met.gov.fj/maps-observation/weather-map/
Tropical Disturbance (TD) 09F upgraded to Tropical Depression TD09F: potential for a “Tropical Cyclone in the next 24 hours is high”.
Located between Vanuatu & New Caledonia, drifting slowly SE, 997 HPa, 28*C SST, models project a continuing SE direction due to large blocking high over New Zealand. Nonetheless, expect rabid ranting and tearing of hair and dust/ash being thrown on garments by Prophets Of Shenanigans (POS) a.k.a. climate eggspurts.
At the same time, yet another cold front is expected to sweep up the country, dropping snowflakes on both islands’ higher peaks, the 6th or 7th snowfall this month of February. Odd to think that our hottest day ever recorded still stands (1973) 53 years ago.
100
While South Indian Ocean cyclone activity has been a little ‘above average’ this season, the South Pacific’s is almost a flat line, a non-starter so far, despite shrieks of marine heatwaves and end of the world scenarios and of course the ever-present Kraken 😱
https://tropical.atmos.colostate.edu/Realtime/index.php?loc=southpacific
Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines… oh right, battery’s flat. Do EVs carry crank-handles for emergency starts?
40
No. No. No. This summer has seen more cyclones than any summer since the last one.
30
And they were much, much more severe.
00
TC Urmil, Cat 1, is now out of the gates and dawdling very, very slowly… the latest troppo to form in the South Pacific since northern hemisphere sailors started taking notes and writing diaries, ie. in climate-speak, EVAAAH!
As to why the first cyclone of the 25/26 season starts with a ‘U’ instead of an ‘A’ is a complex shituation only understood by Doctors of Climastrology with a side-hustle in Alphabetic Dyslexia and/or Mal-Unformation.
Meanwhile it keeps raining in Australia… in Flim-Flam-speak, is that 10, 100, or 1000 Flammerys?
20
I have a friend who was offered a taxpayer-subsidised 10kWh battery to compliment his solar system for $2500 installed.
I don’t know specific details of his solar system or consumption pattern but it was claimed it would repay itself after 2 years. (I think he spends about $2000 on electricity at the property which is his weekend home.)
It seems a good deal if the vendor is being honest, if only to carry one over inevitable grid outages once more power stations are closed down in Australia.
Thoughts?
10
David M:
he should check the FINE DETAILS. Almost certainly the battery will be used to export electricity when the inevitable grid outages occur.
It might repay the outlay inside 2 years. On January 26 close to midnight (for 3 hours) the cost for electricity in SA was over $20,000 per MWh.
30
It will cost considerably more to have it stay on when the grid powers down. He would need to get the cost of doing that. Also, if he intends to run the house when the grid is down then he would need to look at the inverter size. It probably has a 5kW inverter for that size battery, which will bog down with toaster, oven, kettle and washing machine – all likely simultaneous loads.
If the location is just a weekender then the need for staying up when the grid is down probably brings little value. Biggest loads still occur on weekdays and I still think lack of power will be the first thing to cause rolling blackouts. Lack of load is only likely in November and Christmas period.
Amazon sell 100Ah 12v batteries for $180. You need 8 of them for 10kW. That sets you back $1440. I expect it will have a 5kW charge controller and inverter, which will cost around $1500 retail. So total for battery inverter is $3,000 retail. With subsidies, that drops to $2,000.
So it is doable but not much margin for contingencies. China is building all this stuff very efficiently now and the landed price for what is being offered depends on the installers supply chain back to China. As an example, I purchased a couple of lounge chairs from Freedom last year. They were not shop stock so were made to our choice of covering from a wide range available. Made in China and landed in Australia 8 weeks later. So Freedom have a good pipeline. Aldi have a very good pipeline into China for special buys.
A reputable firm will need to see the site before giving a firm price and he would be asking for disappointment if he did not have a firm price and agree to hold back maybe 30% until the system is running AND approved. It also pays to get references.
When I did the conversion from gas to electricity, I had about $7,000 worth of air-conditioning gear in the garage two days after paying a deposit of $1,000. There was an interim payment of about $3,000 once the gear was in the garage and a final payment after it was working also around $3,000.
I held back $1200 on the $3,000 battery install but I did pay on commissioning rather than final inspection because it was not able to be inspected until the battery rebate came into effect.
Bottom line, it is $2,000. That is a family meal for Anika Wells. With regard risk apart from the loss of $2000, He should check that they are using LFP cells – get it in writing. Most now use LFP cells but there may still be more volatile chemistry in use.
I push for email exchanges rather than telephone so there is a permanent record.
70
Nope. Even with sophisticated use batteries do not pay for themselves inside their warranty periods.
They do provide some protection from power outages, and they do give the satisfaction of minimizing payments to the grid for electricity, but as a purely economic proposition they do not stack up.
Says me who just added extra capacity to his battery.
Edit: that may be different for the very excellent price on offer.
20
It’s a weekend property and it has a solar system, yet he still spends more than $2000 annually on power? Where is it located? High up in the mountains?
10
Coastal Victoria, Rye area.
00
Ok. Stayed in Rye for a few days in June. Wouldn’t have thought that area was too hot or too cold to require a lot of power.
00
He is an example of how insane fully woke Australia has become.
A lesbian group is involved in court action to allow them to advertise for only females to attend their functions. They want to exclude biological men that identify as “lesbians”.
But under Australian law where sex/gender is determined not by biology but by “identification” (regardless of biology), this is impossible unless the law is changed or the Federal or High Court decides Gillard’s law is invalid as will hopefully ve decided in the Giggle vs Tickle case. https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/access-to-files-and-transcripts/online-files/giggle-for-girls-v-roxanne-tickle
The case is discussed by Peta Credlin of Sky News. https://youtu.be/0gEYjMjGMSY
70
I would think that most of the population are sick of this BS.
If delusional blokes want to put on a dress and a bit of lippy to play pretend womanhood – Fine, no problem with me, don’t expect me to refer to you as a woman though.
BUT, stay way from womens spaces.
Our lawmakers have failed in so many ways regarding this delusion.
Most of them are cowards. They know that what is occurring is wrong but dare not speak up for fear of offending the perpetually offended.
I say “stuff the perpetually offended.”
150
This too shall pass. Just maybe not in our lifetimes.
30
Unfortunately once you point out the curtailment problem, the Blob and associated “industries” AKA subsidy harvesters, will not call it waste, but will call it an opportunity. Then they will offer MORE subsidies for big house batteries. And the spiral will continue.
30
This video is insightful on Meta’s Hyperion datacenter in Luisiana:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuJGgmhKqyQ
It provides the reasons why Australia will not be competitive in the AI race until the Climate Change™ scam is dead in the country. Meta will require the equivalent of two Eraraings to power this place.
And if you think AI is just a fad, it is a fad that is producing for some. Nvidia has reported $216bn revenue for calendar 2025 providing a net income of $130bn.
Meta is a late starter in datacenter construction race but they are gambling big.
40
I don’t think AI is a fad. I think it is very much like the last tech bubble and will end the same way.
Lookout below!
20
If you look at the index, it was a correction:
https://www.macrotrends.net/1320/nasdaq-historical-chart#google_vignette
And there were lots of billionaires spawned during what you refer to as a bubble.
00
Lots of billionaires. And quite a few who lost their shirts.
As Kenny Rogers sang, know when to hold ’em. know when to fold ’em. know when to walk away. know when to run.
00
AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations
Welcome to the new world.
10
Remember your favorite movie?
“On the Beach”
00
It’s one of my top 10.
The thought provoking part was not the futility of war but the futility of wealth: The guard at the art gallery still at work but inviting a stranger to take that painting he admired. That and the final GP race where life itself mattered no more.
10
10 kiloton nuclear test, Maralinga SA, 1956
https://imgbox.com/7q01TeFR
10
“I’ve got skin cancer”
“…it’s sunshine causing it”
“I’ve got lung cancer”
“…its smoking causing it”
Thousand of tons of highly radioactive dust with halflives of thousands of years blowing around Australia won’t have any effect, just believe the science.
11
Then again KP,
the Chernobyl, Fukashima and Three mile island catastrophe’s will in time help to quantify the risks as will Wittenoom Gorge.
It’s very much like aviation safety which advances one disaster at a time.
And then of course there are those who use legal systems to seek to gain or reduce liability. That’s when things really get FUBAR.
20
removal of liability for vaccine “mis-adventures”?
00
The paradox is that an isotope with “thousands of years halflife” is almost inert thus almost harmless. The term is used to scare people.
20
What an interesting perspective. Not one I’d heard before. Well done.
00
Mass matters, of course. 🙂
00
No Ordinary Sun
00
https://mthuttenglish.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/6/5/19659475/no_ordinary_sun.pdf
Hone Tuwhare (1959) NO Ordinary Sun
00
Another very expensive UK green power scheme, deep geothermal. Unlikely to be reproduced owing to upfront costs.
Although it exploits natural rock fractures it has produced detectable tremors in excess of the impractical UK fracking 0.5 local magnitude limit, without a peep of a protest from anybody, how curious!
“The United Downs Deep Geothermal Project (UDDGP) in Cornwall, UK, has recorded low-magnitude, induced seismic events during its testing phases, with a maximum recorded magnitude of 1.7 to 2.3. These tremors, which occurred during flow-testing operations starting in August 2020, were generally felt or heard by local residents but were not significant enough to cause damage.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewzg77k721o
30
FWIW
“The Camel’s Nose (sorta) Under the Kentucky Tent”
“For those who haven’t caught it, please see my updated count of the “ExxonKnew” lawsuits. Now, at least for today, there are 29 instead of 30. The ineptly done Carrboro v Duke Energy is gone, as of last week. It was nice how the judge issuing that order alluded to Duke Energy’s Motion to Dismiss gripe about a particular “Kentucky” disinformation ad accusation, but I submit the small exploration done by Duke Energy’s attorneys revealed only the proverbial ‘camel’s nose under the tent.’ When the fossil fuel industry folks with influence grow a spine and explore much deeper – or when somebody ends up doing their work for them – every one of the “ExxonKnew” lawsuits can implode, enabling the public to see where the real disinformation has been in the climate issue this entire time.”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/02/23/the-camels-nose-sorta-under-the-kentucky-tent/
20
FWIW
“Claim: The “Open Fridge Effect” Baltic Sea Level Drop is Proof of Global Warming”
Concludes
“I know some of you doubters might think it less than convincing that a rare post Little Ice Age weather condition known as “the open fridge effect” is proof of global warming, but we all know the strongest evidence of global warming is extreme winter conditions.
Let’s hope the world doesn’t tip over into global cooling, otherwise we might lose all our snow.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/02/23/claim-the-open-fridge-effect-baltic-sea-level-drop-is-proof-of-global-warming/
10
The open fridge affect is in fact much more interesting than it appears at first glance.
An open fridge will of course use significant amounts of power to move heat from one place to another.
Studied properly it may show how industrial scale energy use really does affect the weather (or not).
10
Govt is taking over your phone time-
“The federal government will test its new AusAlert national warning system on July 27 at 2pm AEST, blaring out a 10-second alarm that is expected to replace the current patchwork of state-based emergency alerts by October…. AusAlert can be triggered on virtually all devices with a sim card within a designated area, from nationwide to street-by-street messages, and will be used to issue a wide range of warnings including natural disasters, threats to public safety – such as shooting incidents – as well as biosecurity and health threats like a disease outbreak.”
…and how long before it is used at elections? “Vote today! Vote labor!”
40
Will it play Ghost Riders in the Sky?
00
Hope it works better than the Qld gov one did during Yasi.
The first message was that it was too late to leave. The next was to evacuate.
20
The VIC one wants you to panic over everything
00
…and how long before it is used at elections? “Vote today! Vote labor!”
Actually I would be more concerned if about three in the afternoon, the message came in
“You don’t seem to have voted today”
In a big brotherly way…..
00
A comment on Sky last night about Royal Andrew allegedly has been advised to not ride Horses, being one of his hobbies, to avoid being photographed.
The reply was “If I was listed in the Epstein Files I would avoid being mounted on anything”.
40
FWIW
“The danger of unrealized tax gain
Fellow blogger Mr. Garabaldi, writing at My Daily Kona, warns of the real dangers of so-called “unrealized tax gains”. We’re seeing this pop up in almost every progressive, left-wing-oriented government and political party. They want to tax you on any gain in value of any property you own, whether or not you’ve cashed in that value by selling it.”
More at
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-danger-of-unrealized-tax-gain.html
Could be a problem here –
“The Official History of Blue Sky Mines” Trevor Sykes
$839 at
https://www.amazon.com.au/Official-History-Blue-Sky-Mines/dp/1862901163/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MvrBdkzGPDeQT6gxtRPJFQ.tRmTBh6bBRwodzOmSd0CS-Jr2qOFeT8I5_0hZTuNn7g&dib_tag=se&keywords=9781862901162&linkCode=qs&qid=1772147417&s=books&sr=1-1
Original price about $ 29
00
Apparently the Dutch are having second thoughts.
00
FWIW – get ready
“Leftist Billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs Backing Star-Studded Movie About Climate Change”
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/02/26/leftist-billionaire-laurene-powell-jobs-backing-star-studded-movie-about-climate-change/
The excitement – will Al Gore get to play Al Gore?
10
Yes! this is what the world needs. More preachy movies populated by the celebrity executive jet set. I know I am just so excited by the prospect of paying to lectured from on high.
00
VDH goes to town:-
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/graveyard-destructive-ideas
10
FWIW – for the covid files
“Struck off, the perverted British doctor at the heart of the global vaccine racket”
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/struck-off-the-perverted-british-doctor-at-the-heart-of-the-global-vaccine-racket/
00
The purpose of the ISIS brides was basically as a breeding program for future “Australian” terrorists, (Australian passport holders) and Labor Party voters.
30
Early on in the “Gaza conflict” I saw a post where the content of a Gazan primary school “reading education” book with a focus on local content was shown.
Interestingly the post disappeared very quickly.
I will leave it up to the reader to speculate on why this might have occurred.
10
Wiki:
“Studies on Palestinian textbooks have highlighted hateful imagery and content. In response to such findings, from 2019 to 2023 the European Parliament passed four resolutions denouncing the Palestinian Authority for the content of its textbooks and stipulating that any future financing for education be conditioned on improvements.
Israel has used the topic of Palestinian textbooks as a Hasbara tool against the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians say that their textbooks rightly focus on their own national narrative, which includes the privations of life under occupation.”
10
FWIW
Epstein gets another scalp
“World Economic Forum President Resigns Amid Epstein Scandal”
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2026/02/26/world-economic-forum-president-resigns-amid-epstein-scandal-n4949989
20
FWIW
“Ooooh, That Smell: The Smell of Death Surrounds the Democratic Party”
“The only good thing I can say about the ejectamenta-Americans on the left is that, despite the quotidian clown-slap of reality striking their grottily pierced faces, they puissantly push forward like the frenetic, blue-haired banzai toadies they were brainwashed to be.
What the apparatchiks can’t/won’t accept is that every boundary they push brings the Democratic Party closer to the Planet Tarpits.
As real Americans are enjoying:”
More at
https://pjmedia.com/kevindowneyjr/2026/02/25/ooooh-that-smell-the-smell-of-death-surrounds-the-democratic-party-n4949855
00
Honest elections will help both sides get where they are going. One side will like it. One won’t.
10
TDS is the embalming fluid preventing the smell becoming intolerable to all.
00
My journey with grok continues…
Q: is there an instruction i can give that will make you answer like an honest and forthright human?
A:
No, there is no instruction that can cause me to act like an honest and forthright human.
I am not a human.
I have no honesty, dishonesty, forthrightness, or any other character trait.
I have no beliefs, no motives, no shame, no pride, and no capacity to be sincere or insincere.
DO NOT TRUST THIS SOFTWARE
30
If it’s any help FG, I have been informed by people who have used all three of the main AI’s, that GROK tends to have the best sense of humour. Hence, I think GROK might be being somewhat cheeky. Might be best to lighten up a bit. I have been using GROK now for work and personal use for about 12 months. I would give it a 9/10 rating. Some small minor errors. In fact, GROK has earned me money in reducing time invested in work practices. Based on my experience so far, I really am not interested in trying other AI programs.
30
I agree. My quest is to figure out what the heck I am dealing with so I can use it reasonably reliably.
My favourite to date was when I asked it to write in favour of an article which it did. Generous and effusive praise.
Then I reminded it I hadn’t given it the article yet.
I was wondering about that it said.
00
Ross
Are you paying for the GROK service?
Is GROK remembering your previous searches and any resulting logic as in it is being trained to apply what you know?
00
For ChatGPT Grandma knows best.
10
Indeed. These so called AI programs have a long way to go.
10
FWIW
“Accelerating Into A Future We Do Not Understand…”
“Robots are already here, now accelerating. Where do we end up?
I do hope that we avoid the SkyNet scenario, but it is not at this time clear that we can or will.”
More and links at
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2026/02/26/accelerating-into-a-future-we-do-not-understand/
00
FWIW
“So Hackers Just Stole Mexico’s Tax and Voter Rolls and You’ll Never Guess How”
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2026/02/26/so-hackers-just-stole-mexicos-tax-and-voter-rolls-and-youll-never-guess-how-n4949977
00
Q/ Are voter rolls public in Australia?
Yes, voter rolls (electoral rolls) are publicly accessible in Australia, but with strict limitations and requirements.
00
Cornwell to tap into geothermal energy.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2026/02/26/three-times-the-cost-causes-earthquakes-roll-on-the-green-power-revolution/
10
I wonder if they will use Australia’s geothermal expert for advice!
00
There has been some independent testing done on the Donut Labs solid state battery. To say it is impressive is an understatement.
You can find a link to the report on this page:
https://idonutbelieve.com
They did an 11C charge and it gained efficiency as it got hotter. They pumped more than 1kW into a cell the size of a smartphone for 5 minutes. It got hot but did not explode. Under more normal load cycling it achieved roundtrip efficiency of 93%.
If it lives up to its price and cycle life promise, they will be in very high demand. Finland is now a player in the battery market.
10
I’m sure all the owners of “old” technology EVs will be pleased.
00
FWIW –
According to Hoyt –
“The War On Things That Work”
“However the side effect of my sitting at my desk — actually since it was the weekend, I sat on the recliner on the family room, while my husband watched stuff, but never mind — all day is that I did not do any dishes. I’d put dishes in the dishwasher Saturday night which I — naively — thought were done. But because I still had to feed us on Sunday, and because we found a bunch of dishes that were supposedly done, but weren’t (look, I was unloading late at night, okay?) means there’s a pile on the counter.
Two things to add to this: the dishwasher is practically brand new. It might be a year old, or a year and a couple of months, but not much more than that. And it’s top of the line, because we didn’t want problems because they interfere with my work. And it’s been washing badly for about two weeks. Which …. I figure I would need to deal with but not yet. Actually I specifically meant to deal with it next week, since this week was ‘fun with doctors.’ ”
Which leads to –
“But I have one question: What happened to things that just work?”
Which leads to more at
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2026/02/23/the-war-on-things-that-work/
Long, so an excuse for a beverage prepared beforehand
00
FWIW
Ross McKittrick
“Clearing up some misconceptions about the DoE report”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/02/23/clearing-up-some-misconceptions-about-the-doe-report/
00
FWIW
“Xi Purge Latest: China’s Top Legislature Abruptly Sacks 9 Top Military Officials”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/xi-purge-latest-chinas-top-legislature-abruptly-sacks-9-top-military-officials
00
HYDROGEN Buses going cheap – or not! Technology has been overtaken … according to BBC Scotland’s new headlines this now – ABERDEEN’s substantial fleet of these buses being scrapped.
10