Weekend Unthreaded

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237 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #
    Richard Ilfeld

    And in a calmer moment….

    On the one hand, authorities in niches that allow them to squander public funds on counter productive alternative energy schemes do so, usually enriching themselves and/or their friends, ad adding misery to the taxpayer burder.

    On the other hand, they are irrational fools, who cannot make their case to the public. The no longer try. They Assert. They accuse those who question their assertions of all manner of things and assert again. Then they ask for money and power.

    But most folks are calling BS….including, based on their actions, a majority who give lip service to the cultists to avoid social approbation.

    There are some things we learn early, and one of these is how an honest person makes a case:

    A: These are the brake parts I took off your car. You can see how worn they are. I’ll reinstall them, of you like, and your brakes will still work but not as well as you would like. Or I’ll do a brake service for$xxx.

    B: Its hopeless. You have a broken frammis, but it’s too complicated to explain. I’m already in for $500 bucks,and I’m not sure what the full fix will cost. No, I know you drove it in, but $500 and I’ll let you tow it away.

    No one who had really, scientifically discovered proof of a pending problem in the climate would act the way these folks act, and a pretty healthy minority know it. Probably a majority now, and as soon its no longer politically correct to be a faux climate warrior (cause you ruining the economy & killing jobs, don’t ya know, I think its a landslide.

    They’ve spent a lot of other people’s money, to no result. I think they are running out of it. They won’t spend their own.

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    • #
      Lionell Griffith

      In olden times, the peasants would rise up and form a long pitchfork, torch, and rope parade and storm the castle. They would take out the parasitical ruling class and dispose of them permanently. In a short while, another gang of parasitical wannabe ruling class types would take over and put down the rebellion with even more brute force. Rinse and repeat until the society totally collapses.

      Today, we vote the existing parasitical ruling class out and voluntarily replace them with a similar gang of parasitical wannabe ruling class types who lied to us by saying they would be different. Those voted in are usually different but often worse than the gang they replaced and only rarely better. The brute force put down of a violent rebellion is thereby avoided.

      This might be better in the short run, perhaps, but not by much. The bitter end is usually the same as in olden times but takes a bit longer to achieve the total collapse of the society.

      In the long run, you can’t get better people in government until you have better ideas in the people. If the ideas are good enough and held by enough people, the problem gets cured. Those voted into office will actually be better rather than simply telling lies to us simply to get voted into office to become the next gang of parasitical thugs.

      Some day we will discover a form of government that continues to respect the individual right to life, liberty, and property by interfering with those who would violate those right. Rather than as it is now, where government violates those rights wholesale and almost without restriction.

      Oh wait? Some of us did in 1776 but most of us seem to have forgotten why we did it. We are mostly focused on getting a free lunch from government and have forgotten that, for government to give, they first must take from those who create the wealth taken.

      As in take from Peter and give to Paul, take from Paul to give to Timothy, finally take from Timothy to give to Peter. At each taking, take a large percentage to run the scam. Eventually, there is nothing to give. More importantly, there is nothing to take. It is unsustainable!

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      • #
        PeterS

        It matters not how the leaders get into power. The end results as you said are the same. Our society will inevitably collapse as they all did in the past, and for the same reasons too. Some say it’s different this time around. Yeah right, dream on. That’s what they all said in the past before their societies collapsed. Most keep forgetting the lessons of the past and keep dreaming of a future that never arrives.

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        These days its an unholy alliance of govt, tech companies and the lunatic Elite ( and their not for profits ) who need to be brought to book.

        The private search engines provide the Intelligence (who knows who, what their associtions are – and locality tracking ) , the govt just hoovers all the info up and misuses it, and the Elite then just interfere with society coz they think they are smart ( they arent, just power hungry jumped up wealthy peasants…) and use the info from thier search engine companies and govt coz they hold a lot of power and make or break govts.

        Different dog, same leg actions….

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      • #
        Ted O'Brien

        Lionell, don’t panic. This time it’s different.

        Here in Oz the world is being turned on its head by our most talented footballer. He looks like putting PC right back in its place. This with our newly empowered government, along with the Trump effect, give us hope for a better future.

        20

    • #

      Richard Ilfield:
      Your June 16 2:55am comment had great passion, and truth.
      However, a broken frammis is something to take seriously.
      I once had a broken frammis, and refused the expensive repair.
      Five days later, the engine fell out of my car.
      -nBe sure to include humor in your comments,
      to elevate them from very good, to excellent.
      My jokes are rarely funny, but I try.

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  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    “Great” moments in the failed climate science apocalypse: 2020 – 6 months to go …

    1986:
    “Hansen said the average U.S. temperature has risen from 1 to 2 degrees since 1958 and is predicted to increase an additional 3 or 4 degrees sometime between 2010 and 2020.”

    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=llJeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AWENAAAAIBAJ&pg=5501,1378938&dq=james-hansen&hl=en

    2017, Hansen:
    “One of the fathers of climate science is calling for a wave of lawsuits against governments and fossil fuel companies that are delaying action on what he describes as the growing, mortal threat of global warming.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/17/we-should-be-on-the-offensive-james-hansen-calls-for-wave-of-climate-lawsuits?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco

    It is now obvious who requires legal action:

    Man fined for dud doomsday warning

    http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/man-fined-for-dud-doomsday-warning/story-fn6ck55c-1226080950490

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    • #
      ivan

      Is that why they keep on fudging the temps, to stop people from taking legal action against the doomsayers? Maybe we should crowdfund legal against some of these people but who do we start with?

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    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Taiwanese ” convicted by a district court in Nantou, central Taiwan, for spreading socially disruptive rumours.”

      There we are.

      Surely our leaders could initiate the same process here in Oz. with larger penalties for larger lies. Even a few month sin the slammer would be good for all the Warmistas, and a relief for the rest of us.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        The first in court would be the pollies themselves, and they know it.

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      • #
        Kinky Keith

        But there’s One Big problem.

        Who? Gets to define The Truth?

        There are now so many different Truths!

        KK

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        • #
          Bill in Oz

          The Greenists are constantly harping on about predictions of ‘catastrophe’.
          Much like false warners of fire in a theater
          If their predictions prove false
          That is the Truth KK
          Lock them up !
          Simple !
          And that includes Gorbul Warming Gore
          Should he ever step foot in Australia again
          Or Frankie pop in Rome !

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  • #
    Another Ian

    “BASELOAD POWER WITHOUT CO2? IT IS POSSIBLE ARGUES IAN NEWNHAM”

    https://www.pickeringpost.com/2019/06/15/baseload-power-without-co2-it-is-possible-argues-ian-newnham/

    Pro nuclear

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    • #
      Lionell Griffith

      The development of nuclear energy in any form will be fought by the green blob with even more vigor than the building of more coal powered energy sources. Their reason is a deeply malevolent one in that man will greatly benefit greatly from either development. and they cannot allow that to happen.

      They are NOT about minimizing CO2 emissions. They are about minimizing the impact of the MIND of man upon the earth. To do that, they intend to eliminate man, at any cost, including their own extinction. They do not mean well and never have!

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      • #
        yarpos

        I fully support them re the human extinction thing, as long as they go first. It really would be the ultimate virtue signal.

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        • #
          Lionell Griffith

          That’s just it. They want to wait until you and I go extinct before they do. Just to make sure we “do the right thing”. They would get my highest respect if they do go first by their own hand. Otherwise, while they are alive, I do not see anything they do as virtuous.

          However, I don’t plan to follow their example. I actually much prefer to be an alive, thriving, and functional human as long as possible – 82 years and counting. That is the best way to be able to make the world a better place for both myself and those I care about.

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        • #
          PeterS

          To the point and factual. The left would be the last to give up their luxurious way of Western living. The simple truth is the left are very simple minded fools. Too many in the West don’t actually understand the socialists among us want to destroy our way of life and regress back to some socialistic dream world, which is actual fact would be a nightmare not much unlike the bad old days of Soviet Socialist Russia if not worse.

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          • #
            glen Michel

            I suppose the old soviet gave free health,education, vodka rations and 4 weeks paid holidays that you did your part in the social contract and COMPLIED.The bottom line is that planned, command economies don’t work that well.That said, I know Russia well and wish her so.

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      • #
        Dennis

        But in Tasmania the Greens did nothing as 10 kilometres of old growth forest trees were removed to make a corridor available for a feeder transmission line from a new wind farm to the main grid.

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    • #
      Dennis

      The Howard Liberal-National Coalition Government commissioned a report into replacing ageing coal fired power stations with nuclear sometime after that government signed, but did not ratify, the IPCC Kyoto Agreement.

      I recall that the recommendation was made for nuclear based on small plants but many of them all around Australia.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    A bunch of old growth rainforest trees up to 200 years old were sacrificed to the Green gods for some unreliables.

    Partial quote:

    Rainforest trees 200 years old have been cleared to make way for a wind farm transmission line in Tasmania’s Tarkine, prompting claims of green “hypocrisy”.

    Myrtle and sassafras trees were among those felled along a 10.5km corridor widened for transmission lines associated with the $280 million, 112 megawatt wind farm at Granville Harbour, in Tasmania’s remote northwest.

    Special species timber advocate Andrew Denman, who discovered the felled trees, said it raised concerns about environmental impacts, wastage of high-value timber and wind power’s “green” credentials.

    He estimated that some of the felled trees, highly valued in specialty timber production, were 200 years old, given they typically grow at 0.3cm a year and were 60cm in diameter.

    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/oldgrowth-trees-cut-down-for-windfarm-transmission-corridor/news-story/5b5971dad67ca6086cd7501259b3528f?fbclid=IwAR0uXAShjUepU6BankNErbHGvWbX19bLY9wlhkbFtlISiPzoH8q46PROqRg

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    • #
      Maptram

      A month or so ago there was a post about a wind farm in at Granville in Tasmania, which was the subject of an ABC program. I think it’s headline was something like a $1 million wind farm $1 billion to connect it to the grid.

      https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-04-08/beef-farmers-tasmania-wind-farm-dreams-reality/10976378

      I saved the link because I was interested in how much CO2 is added by the project and how the project was justified.

      The farmer has lost three clotheslines along because of wind gusts up to 200 km/h

      To quote the project manager “The turbines work any time the wind speed is above 18 km/h. The wind speed averages 30 km/h year-round on the west coast of Tasmania.”

      I seems to me that these people think average is minimum so generation of electricity is guaranteed but, if the wind gusts up to 200 km/h and the average is only 30 km/h there must be times when the wind speed is very low.

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      • #
        Maptram

        The link I put was for an ABC program. Don’t expect we will see a program on the ABC about cutting down the trees to connect the windfarm to the grid

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      • #
        David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

        G’day Dennis,
        When I looked into specs for those turbines a few years back they all had a maximum wind speed before cut out of 90km/hr. So they weren’t producing in very high winds as well as very low winds. Haven’t seen that mentioned in SMH or ABC.
        Cheers
        Dave B

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  • #
    Kinky Keith

    Reading Richard’s post at #1 I thought he got it all in the first paragraph, then I read on.

    A great piece.

    KK

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  • #
    David Maddison

    I’m all for nuclear, it would be great in Australia, especially in remote areas away from coal supplies but some people make the mistake of promoting nuclear simply because it is emiision (CO2) free.

    That is a mistake because it just reinforces the view that anthropogenic CO2 is a problem when obviously it isn’t.

    By all means promote nuclear power but only because it is an appropriate economic solution for a given situation and not because it happens to be CO2 free. Market forces should be the only arbiter of whether to use coal, gas or nuclear power,

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      David I remember the article you wrote on Nuclear power in Australia that you once posted here, I saved it but seen to have lost it after a minor crash, can you please provide the link again, thanks.

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    • #
      yarpos

      Depends how you frame it really. If its along the lines of “even you alarmist clowns can agree with this” I am less concerned with purity of argument than getting a sensible outcome.

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    • #
      Kinky Keith

      David,

      In full agreement there.

      This entire Farce is based on one thing and one thing only:

      That CO2 is causing global warming and is a monstrous threat to Humanity.

      That such a gigantic manipulation of the human species has been achieved through this Trojan Horse is absolutely the final word.

      Humans are Dumb and Gullible.

      There is no mechanism by which CO2 causes Atmospheric Overheating and even if there was such a mechanism the very obvious facts so often presented here on this blog remain The Truth, The Whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.

      Human Origin CO2 is quantitatively irrelevant,
      and

      Whatever CO2 we religiously avoid putting into the atmosphere today by our “actions”, is scientifically replaced the next day from the actual scientific mechanism of equilibration with that massive CO2 Reservoir called

      The Ocean.

      We Must face this scam down once and forever. Our nation is being destroyed.

      KK

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      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Just in case people see CO2 as a dangerous gas perhaps we need to remind them that CO2 is THE neural regulator of our breathing.

        If CO2 levels in our bloodstream get below the Critical Limit we will be dead in twenty minutes.

        CO2 is the essential Gas of Life.

        KK

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      • #
        glen Michel

        What I can’t understand is this present ” spike” in CO2 from a putative 285ppmv pre-industrial to the present 410ppmv.One looks at various proxies from the cryosphere and sees a pattern with small variations. What time scales are we dealing with? Is ocean is outgassing causing the recent rises?

        20

      • #
        theRealUniverse

        ‘there is no mechanism by which CO2 causes Atmospheric Overheating’ – on Earth or VENUS! as wrongly claimed by NASA. Venus massive pressure and temperature are explainable the gas laws only.

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    • #
      PeterS

      I tend to agree that nuclear is the way to go for a number of reasons. The main reasons is we need a reliable source of sustainable power that doesn’t have all it’s eggs in once basket. Relying on just coal as the main source of power is a risk no matter how small. I’m a great believer in redundancy. I don’t see a real problem with coal on the horizon but I would feel more relaxed if we also had nuclear power. Having both coal and nuclear as our primary source of power would be ideal IMHO.

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      • #
        Serp

        Who will build the nuclear plants? Check out the fiasco in the UK and then imagine the same scenario playing out in Australia. Scores of billions to build one over an indeterminate time frame and then the cost of the power it produces will be even more prohibitive than where we are headed with the existing renewables shebang. Coal is the only answer. Ask India and China.

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      The rate of ‘accidents’ is very small, thats what allot of ‘antis’ use to stop discussion of nuclear, and the ‘waste’ problem, which isnt realy that much of a problem.
      Also to add Oz has loads of U, so use it or loose it.

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      • #
        theRealUniverse

        Theres also some evidence out that..maybe, Chernobyl may have been sabotage rather than mismanagement by the Soviets.

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      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Most of the “accidents” seem to be associated with the greed aspect of human nature.
        Extending the working life past design limits, skimping on essential construction detail and other “non engineering” factors would, I suspect, cover nearly all the accidents.

        KK

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    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      Yes, David,Yes.
      Allow the market to operate with adequate freedom. This has never been allowed for nuclear in Australia.
      Despite decades of personal involvement with the front end of nuclear in Australia, and although curious about the ban on generation, I never got close to uncovering why new reactors were simply banned. The closest explanation I could invent was that at a past time, maybe the Whitlam era or earlier, a person in high office like a Minister or a Dept Head, took a large benefit from (probably) an NGO like Greenpeace. This was so embarrassing to those who followed that there was a strong overall hush hush, say nothing to anybody informal policy for all Parties that lasted long enough to become a routine response. I met many people who were in positions to know the origin of the nuclear ban, some of them quite well, but had to simply believe them when they told me they did not know how the ban began, it was not written down and nobody seemed to know.
      Those days did not have social media. We must use it these days to stop any repetition of this muddled policy in any areas of development. How can you have freedom to exercise the market if there are impediments that nobody knows about? All relevant impediments to freedom need treatment and resolution. tasks that increasingly rely on people power, silent majority principles.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Isotactic rebound.
      Land rising because the heavy ice sheet has melted away. Greenie’s solution Bring back the Ice!

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      • #
        Yonniestone

        The Greens are experiencing a form of Stockholm Syndrome where they are forcibly held captive to CO2 for their lives but eventually form a bond with it accepting its merits for humanity.

        I could talk about the Earth Mother and Oedipus Complex Greens have but the details will be rooted to your psyche………

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  • #
    • #
      glen Michel

      Interesting from a politically tendentious organisation.How to account for the 4th decade aberration.Any relation to the “dustbowl” phenomenon?

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      even with CO2 inducement.??? inducement?
      It should mean ‘US heatwaves behaving naturally’.
      Of course

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      • #
        theRealUniverse

        I should have commented..normally I would have thought, the EPA or NOAA, would have eliminated (adjusted out) the 1930s spike, maybe Trump ordered it put back?

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  • #
    el gordo

    La Nina ruled for the first half of the Holocene and then El Nino became dominant.

    https://watertechbyrie.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/moys-2002-2.png

    I don’t know why there was a phase change.

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    • #
      Bill in Oz

      EG : That chart is
      :
      1 Small ( tiny in fact )
      2: No sources for the data it presents
      3: Talks about red & blue when I can’t see any red at all

      red Thumbed !

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      • #
        el gordo

        ** chuckle **

        Try squinting your eyes, it works for me.

        Something happened around 4,600 years ago which changed ENSO, it would be nice to know the cause.

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        • #
          Greg in NZ

          Squinting works for me 😉

          End of the African Humid Period: “North Africa has two stable states. Since 5,000 years ago, this area has been in a ‘desert’ state, with little to no vegetation in the Sahara and mixed steppe and savanna to the south in the Sahel. However, pollen records from this area show that a ‘green’ state prevailed during most of the time between 14,500 to 5,000 years ago… Scientists hypothesize that as monsoon precipitation gradually decreased…”

          https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/abrupt-climate-change/End%20of%20the%20African%20Humid%20Period

          Surely NOAA wouldn’t lie (cough!). Stumbled upon their paleoclimatology series today, with sub-links to Glacial-Interglacial Cycles, Younger Dryas, Post-Glacial Cooling 8,200 Years Ago, Drought and collapsing empires, etc. Nothing too in-depth yet all these hot/cold flushes affecting Mama Earth have been a regular thing long before 1950, long before 1850, like even before Greta was born!

          https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/abrupt-climate-change/Drought%20and%20the%20Akkadian%20Empire

          “Around 4,300 years BP, Sargon of Akkad united city-states of Mesopotamia (present-day Syria and Iraq) into the world’s first empire… The Akkadian Empire flourished for about 100 years until, at 4,170 ± 150 years BP, it suddenly collapsed (Weiss et al. 1993)”. Tephra.

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          • #
            Graeme No.3

            Greg:

            The Skara Brae settlement in Orkney stopped around 2200BC. The Old Kingdom in Egypt collapsed around 2100BC and the Indus Valley civilisation around 2000BC. One of the early agricultural settlements in China dissapeared around that time.
            Doesn’t seem to have been a happy time.

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  • #
    OriginalSteve

    A post in the previous topic suggested the UK was insane.

    My observations based on some knowledge ( but not practice ) of the occult and those involved in it is that their behaviour can seem “lunacy” until you understand what drives them.

    The NWO is heavily UK-centric – one of the biggest little known exports of the UK is the occult/witchcraft. The NWO mob appear to be heavily eco-driven, however thier own writings, if you read them, make it plain they want a massive population reduction but first they will try to entice people into their ways, but if that doesnt work they will shove people into it with their hands on the back of our necks for “our benefit”. They also believe a Matreyia figure will appear to lead them into a “New Age” – this is what Christians expect to be the Anti Christ.

    The thing we percieve as “eco-madness” of the ELite/Establishment is what appears to be their pagan occult religious beliefs ( which incorporates the earth as a goddess that must be protected ) played out on a world stage. This is why the Elite/Establishment ( including the nobility and above… ) are so strident and wild-eyed about pushing this stuff.

    Once you understand thier driver, it makes sense. They are human, prone to being mislead and being fooled by the Devil like everyone else, but right now the Devil has convinced them that this path they are on is worth following, From my Christian perspective, its just a reboot of the same old battle of Biblical good vs evil, except now the occult power brokers wear suits and drive Bentleys and run large foundations that directly attack humanity.

    Underneath it all, they are just the Devils willing useful idiots and fools…..

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    • #
      WXcycles

      On the other hand, the bible is a load of old claptrap and none of it’s mythical characters have any reality and is all completely imaginary.

      Call me a skeptic.

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  • #
    el gordo

    Mann and Jones et al hid the decline and invented a hockey stick with creative splicing.

    https://sealevel.info/wmo_1999_climate_report_cover_hockey_stick_jones_bradley_mann_hughes_rounded_splice_points.png

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  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    I love the sound of depressed greenie heads a-poppin’ in the morning …

    Hopes for climate progress falter with coal still king across Asia

    “A depressing picture of global power generation has coal still firmly on top.

    And in a vicious cycle, the very heatwaves and winter freezes high carbon emissions cause seem to be increasing them”

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/15/climate-crisis-coal-asia-power-generation-fossil-fuels?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

    Pop! Pop! Pop!

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    • #
      yarpos

      They fundamentally dont understand that their pet technolgies arent actually viable options. They cant see that they dont work at scale and arent appropriate in every context. Without this basic understanding all they can do is emote , lash out and claim its all some kind of conspiracy.

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      • #
        Lionell Griffith

        From their perspective, their pet technologies are working. They are well on their way to their desired destruction of technological civilization. A civilization that depends upon abundant, low cost, reliable/continuous energy in all forms. A civilization that has all but banished poverty and enabled the explosion of thriving human life on earth. THIS is what they are working to destroy.

        How can anyone in his right mind want such an end? That’s the problem. They are so philosophically insane, reality does not exist for them and they totally despise the fact that reality is what it is.

        Reality does not obey their wishes, whims, commandments, or infantile tantrums and continues to be exactly what it is. Which makes them want to destroy it, along with anyone living in reality, with a blinding white hot hatred.

        Their perspective is that if they can’t have what they want when they want it (without thought, understanding, or effort), then no one can have anything. It follows that the means by which they plan to achieve their malevolent ends is by the ancient means of human sacrifice and the destruction of the good BECAUSE it is good.

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    el gordo

    The Morrison government has setup a Fast Rail Agency.

    https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/rail/trains/faster_rail/index.aspx

    His strategy is now quite clear and he should get Labor support, but ultimately its up to the states.

    Can a bullet train network run on solar and wind?

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Of course. The sunny financial predictions are all sunny, and the reasons are all wind.

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      • #
        el gordo

        Iron ore is receiving a hefty price and the Reserve is pleading with Morrison to build infrastructure, so a mini budget is in order.

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        • #
          Hanrahan

          Post #19 would be as big a national asset as the Snowy and if you read the link the channel could provide water for an expanded Galilee Basin coal industry.

          The Yanks tried and failed building a fast train from LA to SF, two large centres. I fear any fast train beyond Badgerys Ck, possibly Canberra, would be a failure.

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          • #
            el gordo

            Decentralisation for the masses, not bullet trains for the rich and fatuous.

            The Bradfield Scheme does nothing for NSW, so I’m putting Lake Argyle water back on the agenda.

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          • #
            yarpos

            I sort of share your concerns. My gut feeling is that a bullet train project would just be a feeding frenzy for consultants, lawyers and the CFMEU.

            There isnt a whole lot of space to get too bullety from Badgerys Creek in, but just a decent dedicated service like those that run you in from Heathrow or Narita would be good.

            How about just a decent, frequent , fast enough train service along the eastern corridor instead of the massive ego driven project?

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    • #
      AndyG55

      Will they get it built in the 12 years that we humans have remaining ?

      That is the big question.!

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      • #
        yarpos

        There will be a bucket list frenzy amongst the true believers. So much to do, so little time.

        The only thing that worries me is hormone/angst ridden teens hearing that stuff. The stupid political point scoring could have bad consequences in a population to young to realise its BS.

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    • #
      Another Ian

      I hope they’re using the latest data from California’s efforts “from nowhere to nowhere” as a starting point

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  • #
    Peter C

    What Happened to the Australian Conservatives in the Election?

    The House of Representatives seats have now been declared. Liberals 77, Labor 68, Greens 1, Katter 1, Centre Alliance (Xenophon) 1, Independents 3.
    https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/HousePartyRepresentationLeading-24310.htm

    What about the Senate?

    I campaigned for the Australian Conservatives. The plan was to try to get a senator elected in each state, creating a solid conservative block in the Senate.

    That did not happen. Not even close. In Victoria, Kevin Bailey got 24,000 votes which is 0.046 of a quota.

    Australian Conservatives were out polled by other conservative groups;
    PHON 0.2
    UAO 0.17
    DLP 0.17
    Shooters 0.13
    Lib Democrats 0.07

    I had not expected such a poor outcome, especially as polling showed that more than 60% of voters are aligned with the Australian Conservatives values and policies. For some reason the campaign was ineffective.

    Perhaps it is impossible for a small party to succeed, yet it looks like Jaquie Lambie will be returned in Tasmania (so a strong public profile can help).

    I suspect that most voters do not understand the preferential voting system in general and particularly the effect of the recent changes which prevent parties swapping preferences.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      PeterC:
      I too am depressed by the poor result but I think that in the long run the Conservatives will win.

      As for the last election I think it represents a return of disaffected voters to the Liberals because they feared that Labor might get in. That naturally cuts down on the numbers of rational conservatives available to vote for you. Then there is the continual description of the Australian Conservatives as extreme right wing which puts off unthinking voters.

      The ball is now in the Liberals court, but will they learn their lesson and retreat from Turnballism? Too many in the Party I think for them to do so. Both NSW and SA machines are captive to being more and more “progressive” and select candidates to do that.
      What they never think (or say) is where they are progressing to.

      100

      • #
        glen Michel

        Too much fragmentation of course. Voted Molan and York second in NSW.Below line naturally.Along the line a convening of the conservative parties has to happen.

        30

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Lambsie is related to half of Tas.

      30

    • #
      skeptikal

      What Happened to the Australian Conservatives in the Election?

      I saw Cory Bernardi’s election advertisement on the TV and I personally found it nauseating. It really felt like he was selling some kind of disability insurance. It was the kind of ad that forces you to mentally switch off. Honestly, Clive Palmer’s ads were better.

      10

      • #
        Peter C

        AC originally had an ad featuring Sam kekovitch.

        For some reason it was not featured and a new ad was made featuring Cory Bernadi. I did not personally dislike the Cory ad but it did not promote the AC values as well as I would have liked.

        20

      • #
        AndyG55

        Nail on the head..

        Corey is boring..

        Clive and Pauline make much more noise..

        They tweak the nose of the leftist MSM and get noticed.

        20

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Hi Peter,

      I had high hopes of a reasonable vote for ACs but must admit that I didn’t follow the lead up much either in the papers or T.V.

      What little I saw of the party in the newspapers suggested that Cory just wasn’t pushing enough.

      KK

      20

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      The ACP represent just a fraction of the conservative part of Australian society.
      And so too do the other parties listed.
      But that in itself is part of the problem
      Disunity is death.
      Menzies in 1944-45 formed the Liberal party from
      A large number of mostly conservative elements in Australian society.
      And went on to win in 1949.

      20

    • #
      yarpos

      Its unsurprising to an outside observer. They had a close to zero profile. Had I not read about them here I would have assumed they had faded away until I started looking at ballot papers.

      30

      • #
        Peter C

        So true yarpos,

        I think the recognition of the Australian Conservatives was very small.

        There are reasons for that, including that small parties are frozen out by the Main Stream Media. That applies doubly for conservatives.

        A problem is how to get over the barriers.

        30

    • #
      ivan

      Peter C, your statement I suspect that most voters do not understand the preferential voting system in general and particularly the effect of the recent changes which prevent parties swapping preferences. is possibly correct and I would go further and question if anyone actually understands it.

      I never understood it when I lived and worked in Australia and I have never seen a simple explanation of how it works (is it even possible to have a simple explanation of its workings?).

      20

      • #
        yarpos

        Just my opinion, but all the preference deals really only matter if you follow their how to vote cards. If you follow their how to vote cards you probably dont really care about politics much anyway.

        I agree its not well understood. Our kids were taught about it in school and visited parliament, but I think that would be a small monority.

        10

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Ivan:
        It is simple; if you vote above the line (which the vast number of people do) and the candidate that you chose cannot get enough votes he/she/it is eliminated and your votes go to the second choice on his/her/its list. If they don’t get enough votes then they are eliminated and your votes distributed to their second choice. Eventually the one person whom you didn’t want gets elected.

        If you vote below the line (as I do) you had to fill in a number for EVERY candidate (all 284 etc.). Too many non acceptable people (e.g. motor enthusiast and hunters party**) get elected so the rules have been changed so you ONLY have to fill in 12 places.

        Speaking for myself, we only had 64 candidates for the Senate in SA and it was easy to fill in the lot (though it probably gave the scrutineers nervous breakdowns) by starting at the leading Green candidate and making her my 64TH choice (although she still got elected) and working my way up through the lesser undesirables to my preferred choices.
        It didn’t work, all the usual suspects got elected.

        **Actually he turned out to be a rather good Senator so he wasn’t re-elected.

        30

      • #
        Peter C

        I would go further and question if anyone actually understands it.
        I never understood it when I lived and worked in Australia and I have never seen a simple explanation of how it works the preferential voting system in general……is it even possible to have a simple explanation of its workings?

        Yes! The implementation is complicated but the concept is fairly simple.

        The voter lists her/his preferences from 1 to 6 or more.

        At the final count (after all pre poll and postal votes are in) they start by eliminating the candidate with the lowest vote. The votes for the lowest ranked candidate, are distributed to the other candidates. Then they count again.

        In the Tasmania vote it took 138 counts to distribute all the preferential votes. A Greens candidate and Jacquie Lambie were elected as the last 2 candidates.

        10

    • #
      TdeF

      In Tasmania, 24,000 votes is half a quota.

      00

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    Speaking of hot air…..and a candidate for the Green King Canute Award…..

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-16/not-all-hot-air-with-tasmanian-windfarm-plans/11209390

    “The boom is creating work for steel and civil engineering companies.

    “So is Tasmania on a verge of a wind farm boom, and where will all the power go?

    “Steel fabricators are busy welding, civil engineers are busy planning, and millions of dollars is being spent upgrading roads to allow huge wind farm parts to be transported to construction sites.

    “But does the island state really need a lot of wind farms?

    “”There [are] some reservation in terms of how much more does Tasmania actually need from wind farms,” said Ray Mostogl, from the Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing and Energy Council (TMMEC)

    And here is the kicker….

    arms making our energy more reliable: experts
    Energy analyst Marc White said the proposed wind farms, combined with solar and hydro storage, would make for low cost, reliable power.

    “Wind farms combined with our hydro resources are what we call the perfect dancing partner,” Mr White said.

    “Our hydro storages and our hydro generators, they’re the freight train of the system. They chug through and keep the system stable.”

    Yup…until the water runs low and the wind don’t blow…..

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    • #
      el gordo

      ” … what we call the perfect dancing partner,” Mr White said.

      Yeah, the Europeans call it coupling.

      20

    • #
      yarpos

      Yep, wind power will make energy cheap and reliable. Just like it did in South Australia. It is hard to imagine what problem this is all solving, but we can be sure there will be new and interesting problems at the end of it.

      The Mythbuster quote comes to mind. ” I reject your reality, and insert my own”

      30

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    “doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain” – red Pope.

    https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/pope-begs-climate-deniers-to-listen-to-science-1.874528

    Can’t wait to see the Extinction Rebellion holding signs saying, “Listen To The Pope!”

    50

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      There are a list of reasons a mile long to never listen to the Pope…and this one too….

      50

    • #
      el gordo

      Great quote, which will undoubtedly diminish catholic standing in the world.

      40

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Pope begs listen to science!?..He should listen to REAL science himself!

      50

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      https://www.marineweather.co.nz/rainfall

      Il Papa (he of the women’s clothing and funny hat) needs to listen to (look at) the prognostication for our shortest day of the year. Click the arrow till it scrolls through to the morning of Saturday June 22: cold and wet in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane (lovely in Broome, WA) as a cold southerly roars up the Tasman Sea as far north as Cairns, while the rest of the South Pacific (97%) is under a layer of miserable cloud and rain.

      I’m working this Saturday – winter solstice – but I’ll take my boardies & towel with me in the hope I can squeeze in a quick, lunchtime, mid-winter swim at the beach… it’s an ancient moral principle of mine… brrr!

      20

  • #
    Chad

    A gravitational Bradfield Scheme
    More info on the latest proposals..for Hanrahan .

    http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20241&page=1

    I talked to a couple of proponents of the new schemes. One was Leon Ashby, irrigator, water-spreading designer, 1999 runner-up for the Queensland Landcare research award, and centenary medal recipient for conservation and the environment. The other was Sir Leo Hielscher, 19 years chairman of the Queensland Treasury Corporation and a key figure in the development of Queensland’s economy.

    Both are schemes for conveying water inland by gravitation from the headwaters of coastal rivers. Gravitational flow enables a meager marginal cost for water delivery. Both are capable of delivering a massive increase in irrigated land in Australia while addressing many environmental problems: access to quality water for towns and mining, mitigation of coastal flooding and reef degradation, and meeting renewable energy targets, to name a few.

    Over-hyped the Bradfield Scheme as initially proposed may have been, pumping water over the Great Divide and running down existing watercourses to Lake Eyre. However, there appears to be a route for a fully gravitational aqueduct with an ideal gradient of 1:5000. The route starts near Niall at 420m Australian Height Datum (AHD) within a potential Hell’s Gate Dam extent at the headwaters of the Burdekin River. It crosses the Flinders Highway between Homestead and Pentland at 375m AHD, and on to Lake Buchanan at 320m AHD, a salt lake perched on the Great Dividing Range. Then it’s downhill to the entire Mitchell Grass Downs, including the towns of Barcaldine at 267m AHD, Aramac, Muttaburra, Longreach, Ilfracombe, Winton and Richmond to Julia Creek at 150m AHD. The dams and route do not overlap with any protected areas or endangered ecosystems.

    50

    • #
      el gordo

      Does the water flow on to the Murray Darling Basin?

      21

    • #
      Another Ian

      Did they mention that a lot of that Mitchell grass downs has salt not far under it? It was the bottom of the last inland sea and the residual salt has been leached by current climate down about a metre. Which is where it will stay until someone adds water or a politician delivers on a campaign promise to double the rainfall.

      80

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Plant Kauri Pines to draw down the water table and then harvest the trees. Just thinkin.

        Isn’t there a problem with salt in WA because the Kauri & Jarrah have been harvested allowing the water table to rise?

        10

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Maybe not such a good idea:

          Queensland’s Mitchell Grass Downs are dominated by largely treeless plains. Most of the region features heavy, cracking, black or brown, clay soils resulting from swamp and other alluvial deposits in the geological past. The soils are thought to contribute to the lack of trees by breaking apart horizontal root systems when the clay contracts; tussock grasses have vertical root systems not as seriously affected by cracking. Mitchell grass, a tussock grass named after the explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell, grows as scattered tussocks, about 20 cm in diameter, up to half a metre high and with roots more than a metre deep, allowing access to deep soil moisture.

          http://travelling-australia.info/Infsheets/Mitchelldownsqld.html

          30

          • #
            Another Ian

            That was true until Acacia nilotica was imported. Nice protein boost to the mitchell grass while it is scattered. But it thickens and depresses pasture yield drastically and then “Bob is not your uncle”

            Plus areas now being invaded by gidgee seedlings

            00

        • #
          beowulf

          You’re confusing WA Karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) with QLD Kauri Pine (Agathis robusta). Kauris would drop dead in no time flat in central Australia with or without ground water. They are tropical. It’s hard enough to get one to grow in coastal sub-tropical NSW. I have no idea how Karris would fare.

          The main tree in NSW and central QLD that stands having its rootlets torn off by deep cracking clays is the Poplar Box (Eucalyptus populnea), a very widespread species. Some of those cracks have been measured at 40ft deep from memory. When it rains those soils can absorb massive amounts of water into the cracks before any surface runoff appears after the clay expands again.

          70

        • #
          theRealUniverse

          Not Agathis Australis (NZ one), takes 1000 years to get to anything big. All the big ones went into ship masts in the 19th cent. Now that was real environmental strip mining!

          10

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Richmond is 100 M greater elevation than Julia Ck [according to g earth] which was the bane of the truckies before the road was sealed. A little bit of rain and the wet dirt would pick up on the tyres and under the guards, stopping progress.

        Not saying it is so but the water table may be lower at Richmond.

        30

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Hi Chad, thanks for the link. Nice to see an actual proposal but you will note no coastal river is mentioned, which I have always suspected. He did mention Hell’s Gate Dam which I have said a couple of times is the only viable option IMHO. Also mentioned “Suitable soils for irrigated farming lie throughout the Mitchell Grass Downs country. Richmond ……” which I called the Black Soil Plains. Overall I agree that it is practical and should be started, especially as it could provide water for Galilee Basin mines, which I never thought of.

      What is puzzling is that this proposal empties into L. Eyre [how long before that is renamed], I thought it was supposed to help the Murray/Darling. It could if some of the irrigated crops such as rice were moved north freeing irrigation water for the river.

      Cheers.

      20

      • #
        scaper...

        Read this.

        When One Nation mentions the hybrid of the Bradfield scheme they are referring to this. I gave this to Malcolm Roberts some time ago. I also gave them a policy on building a Hele plant. It involves the Galilee Basin coal miners building such.

        Runs parallel to a project I have been working towards for almost twenty years.

        30

      • #
        Chad

        The key to this “Gravitational” scheme is the increased height (+ 100m) of the Hells Gate Dam.
        I believe there are options to link the MD basin by using canals/ pumping if required, but i have not checked up lately on that.
        No pint in worrying about the salt pans, since the plan involves flooding Lake Buchanan wich is already a salt bed.
        No expert on this, but wouldnt much of the soil “cracking” issue be solved with this continuous supply of water ?
        The Chinese Libya have shown this type of hydro project can be done on much larger scale than this
        Let’s just…. “ git it done !”

        10

      • #
        glen Michel

        Just get rid of cotton; the reason the lower Gwydir, Namoi Macquarie and Barwon are degraded by repeated demands for irrigation.The river systems are stuffed when they have been treated as water conduits for half a century. No joke!

        11

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Oh dear. Qld is stealing the water from rain that falls in Qld. Cubby does not dam any river, it fills lateral dams when, and only when, the river floods. The last I looked they had not harvested water for years. If you don’t have enough water start looking for the real reasons, not this bogeyman.

          20

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Maybe we can move the cotton growing north, but it may be too hot.

          A perennial, cotton grows in tropical and subtropical locations. It does not do well in regions that have prolonged dry or wet spells. Planting occurs in the spring after all danger of frost has passed. The soil temperature must be 60 degrees Fahrenheit or higher for cotton seeds to successfully germinate. Harvest of the cotton bolls usually begins approximately 150 to 200 days after planting.

          Temperature and Growth
          Cotton plants can attain a height of 15 to 20 feet. Under ideal growing conditions, the temperature should hover between 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The plant develops a deep and extensive root system that makes it drought tolerant. The roots can grow as much as 1/2 inch per day, according to the University of Florida IFAS Extension. If the temperature dips below 60 degrees or above 100 degrees, the growth of the plant slows or ceases. High nighttime temperatures above 85 degrees can render the plant sterile.

          10

          • #
            el gordo

            Sounds complex and I’m thinking industrial hemp may prove more lucrative, because it doubles as a carbon sink.

            ‘Industrial hemp has been scientifically proven to absorb more CO2 per hectare than any forest or commercial crop and is therefore the ideal carbon sink. In addition, the CO2 is permanently bonded within the fiber that is used for anything from textiles, to paper and as a building material.’

            10

    • #
      yarpos

      At the height of the last drought there was a proposal for this from TAS to VIC.

      00

  • #
    pat

    just checked ABC Radio National’s overnight progs. this one is incredible.
    an attempt to claim the very conservative voters in Kingaroy, Qld., were triggered by a mysterious pro-coal-mine sign, when they were against a mine!
    ***says it’s produced by Nikola Van de Wetering, who grew up in Kingaroy, and who narrates the program:

    AUDIO: 28min22sec: 15 Jun: ABC Earshot: Coal country
    Image:The mysterious sign outside Kingaroy
    Kingaroy sits in the most conservative electorate in Australia, yet locals remain conflicted on a proposed coal mine. It’s a debate that’s gone on for almost half a decade now, with the town holding its breath, waiting for the mine to receive government approval. In the forefront of the conflict sits the mystery of an anonymous billboard that reads MORE MINES, MORE JOBS, MORE FUTURE.
    Guests:
    John Dalton – Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group
    Damian and Neralie O’Sullivan – Farmers
    Glen Bailey – Kingaroy businessman
    Peter O’Connor – Mining Industry Analyst
    ***Producer: Nikola Van de Wetering
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/coal-country/11168600

    this is Nikola, and she’s triggered by JoNova:

    Twitter: Nikola Van de Wetering, Coal geologist and isotope wrangler at @UQ_sees, @4zzzradio producer, host of #hotschist on @digital_zed (she/her).

    Tweet: 14 Jun: The @RadioNational #earshot feature ‘Coal Country’ is live now! Listen here (or live tomorrow on RN)! #coal #auspol #adani…

    Tweet: 26 May: I don’t know which particular lobbiest came up with this dazzlingly bogus “fact”, but consider me triggered.
    (LINK) Tweet: SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA
    .@JoanneNova: Warming is mostly beneficial, especially in Australia. Carbon dioxide feeds plants that are more likely to be drought prone. VIDEO
    https://twitter.com/hotschist666?lang=en

    20

    • #
      pat

      this is the same silly program:

      9 May 2018: Facebook: 4ZZZ Radio: A big congrats to 4ZZZ producer Nikola Van de Wetering for her successful application to the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia and CMTO National Features and Documentary series!
      ***Nikola will receive mentoring from ABC journalist and former 4ZZZ reporter Stephen Stockwell to develop and produce her radio feature “At the Coalface”.
      The documentary will investigate the almost decade-long social conflict between local grassroots environmentalists and mining interests in one of the most politically conservative regions of South East Queensland – now captured in a race to establish an open pit mine on a previously contaminated underground coal gasification site.
      Keep an ear out for this one.
      Kingaroy Concerned Citizens)
      https://www.facebook.com/4zzzradio/posts/a-big-congrats-to-4zzz-producer-nikola-van-de-wetering-for-her-successful-applic/1660670063988734/

      Nikola’s program was aired last year:

      30 Oct 2018: PlayerFM: GreeningTheApocalypse(RRR-FM) At The Coalface, with Nikola Van de Wetering
      Bushy and Jed chat with Nikola Van de Wetering from 4ZZZZ in Brisbane on her audio documentary At The Coalface and the general attitude towards coal in QLD. You can hear the documentary here LINK
      https://player.fm/series/greening-the-apocalypse-rrr-fm/at-the-coalface-with-nikola-van-de-wetering-30-oct-2018

      yes, same prog. don’t know if any bits were changed in any way, and can’t be bothered to check:

      AUDIO: 25min58sec: 26 Sept 2018: The story of a billboard, a coal mine, and a rural community split in two.
      Nikola Van de Wetering returns to her hometown to dig-up the controversy sitting close to the surface in At The Coalface.
      Produced by Nikola Van de Wetering of 4ZZZ, Brisbane.
      Supervising production by Stephen Stockwell.
      MORE MINES, MORE JOBS, MORE FUTURE isn’t just a billboard slogan…
      A community fractured not only by it’s mistrust of mining operators, but also of each other…
      Thanks
      •My mentor Stephen Stockwell (ABC)…
      (FROM THE 3 COMMENTS)
      Howard Marosi
      Heard it on 3CR- excellent- informative and interesting
      https://www.cbaa.org.au/article/nfds-2018-coalface

      Uni of Qld School of Earth & Environmental Sciences: Nikola VAN de WETERING
      PhD candidate
      Publications…
      https://sees.uq.edu.au/profile/10925/nikola-van-de-wetering

      WHY WAS THIS ON theirABC LAST NITE? PLEASE EXPLAIN, ITA BUTTROSE.

      30

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Lets hope Jo’s “bogus fact” triggers some critical thinking in Nikola’s head, because every scientist knows cold weather, low CO2 and TSI is great for plant growth LOL…./sarc.

      30

      • #
        glen Michel

        Ahh the advantages of post modern science. Putting the school of humanities into geology.What rubric do they use to assess such students. Gender plurality anthracite.

        20

  • #
    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Excellent article by a mathematics teacher !

      00

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      I like his approach to the real numbers associating molecule numbers and other absurdities that are perpetrated, how stupid the minute 400ppm, and 4% of that, CO2 is in relation to the whole atmosphere.
      The quadrant is usually a good read in the doomed planet part.

      10

  • #
    Hanrahan

    Who is this Gentleman? I think he is an Aussie.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNEQo6lk9ko

    10

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Somebody called Rob H.
      But he has a soft Northern “Georgy” ( ? ) English accent.
      Curious that there are no links to the previous videos in the series.

      00

    • #
      TrevN

      Robert Holmes PhD – Federation University Australia.

      00

      • #
        Bill in Oz

        Federation University have no information about him Trev.
        Interesting !

        Still puzzled about why there are no links on his YouTube channnel..
        Bill

        00

  • #

    I never cease to be amazed at how the brain works.

    As you all know, I’m doing the daily data for all power generation in Australia, and isolating out each source. As part of that, and with respect to wind power, I also calculate the Capacity Factor (CF) for wind power on a daily basis, a weekly basis, and a Rolling Total basis. (the CF after X number of weeks)

    Now, the problem I have with calculating that last one there, the rolling average for CF for wind power, is that every so often, they add in a new wind plant or two, so calculating that rolling average becomes a little more difficult.

    At the start of collecting the data this time around, now 37 weeks ago, the Nameplate for wind power was 5301MW. It is now (having changed in the last week) 6558MW, so they have added 1260MW of new wind plants during those last 37 weeks, and there are now 54 separate wind plants. There have been five times that the total Nameplate has changed with the additions of new wind plants.

    Finding a ‘TRUE’ average CF is not as simple as just adding the weekly, (or daily) CF together and dividing by the number of weeks for the total weeks that the data has been collected for.

    There are so many variables. Start point, change point, new Nameplate at each change point, new total generated power at each change point, number of weeks between each change point, weekly CF for each week, number of weeks in total.

    So, with the variables involved with calculating the CF for just one day, and then for the week, you can see how the maths becomes more complex.

    I can’t just base the total generated power across those (now) 37 weeks and use the most recent Nameplate to calculate the CF, because the original basis for the single calculation for the equation, (Nameplate) has changed by so much. That will give an incorrect CF for that (X number of weeks) rolling average.

    So, this week, when that Nameplate changed again, with the addition of a new 452MW of Nameplate, I knew that the Maths had to be resolved, because I suspected there would be a change in that CF. As a side thing here, I have been using an average CF for wind power here in Australia of 30%, and it’s currently lower than that, around 27%, and while that may not seem very much (just 3% lower) it is quite a change when it comes to total power generated. I suspected that the new CF would in fact be back closer to or even above that 30% mark, and notice how none of any media outlets uses CF or even attempts to explain it.

    I have learned that in situations like this, I can find a way to work it out. Having realised that I needed to do something about it, and then trying to figure it out, I just let it slip and went about my normal daily activities.

    Anyway, around two hours later, the thought came into my head on how to go about it. I sat down, and using what my brain had sorted out, it all fitted into place. It took me almost two hours to work it all out, and it was as complex as I thought it would be.

    The upshot of it all is that the new CF went in the other direction, not up, but down a little lower, but only by a couple of tenths of a percentage point, so the new CF for wind power here in Australia is 27.31%.

    Having done things like this for so long now, I have learned to trust how the brain will find the way to work it out. All I need to have is all the parameters involved.

    As a point of interest, yesterday, Saturday 15th June, all of that Nameplate for wind, 6558MW generated an average across the day of 550MW per hour at a CF of 8.39%. At the low point, 230MW, that CF was 3.5%. If wind is to become the major source for power generation, what do you do when there are times like this, days like this, when wind power is only delivering 1.15% of the total power requirements. (that low for the day of 230MW at 1PM) and while it had climbed marginally to 300MW at the time of peak power consumption, that still meant that wind power was only delivering 1.1% of what was being consumed at that peak time for power consumption, considering that at the same time, there was NOTHING coming from solar plant power or rooftop solar power.

    Tony.

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    • #
      Robber

      Tony, looking back at your weekly average wind generation reports that I have been tabulating:
      May-Aug 2018 wind delivered weekly average of 1849 MW, lowest week 820 MW, highest week 2714 MW.
      Oct-Dec 2018 average 1597 MW, low 1339 MW, high 2185 MW.
      Jan-Mar 2019 average 1609 MW, low 1292 MW, high 2077 MW.
      Apr-Jun 2019 average 1859 MW, low 1387 MW, high 2542 MW.
      So there is no sign of that greater nameplate capacity showing up in greater generation, although there is some seasonal variation.

      50

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Tony I suggest you are trying to be too completely honest in your calculations.
      And then what you are writing becomes to complex for the average bloke or ‘blokette’ to understand.
      But the charts in your blog posts show what’s happening very graphically.

      But I have two suggestion to improve things a bit with more clarity.
      Include a chart of power provided by Wind per day compared to the amount actually needed ( demand ) each day.
      And include a chart showing power generated by solar per day compared to the amount ( demand) each day.
      At the moment you do have a chart of these two combined together compared to total demand.
      But as wind & solar power cannot be generated as needed and are generated in totally different ways, they should be separated to how clearly how dopey is the to rely on these unreliables to power our grid.

      40

      • #

        I actually thought of doing that, but, as it is, I have 12 of those Load Curve graphs at each Post, and having more might just clog it up more than needed, you know, information overload.

        As it is, that second last graph on each page (and the one you refer to) showing wind and solar versus the total generated power tells more than any data could. The total generated power is the black line (Load Curve) at the top, and wind (green colour) and solar (red colour) is the total stumbling along the bottom, not far above the zero line.

        Tony.

        40

        • #
          Another Ian

          What about (say) second graph to catch those of low attention span?

          00

        • #
          Bill in Oz

          Yes Tony you do have that chart.
          What I am suggesting would separate out those two items : Wind & Solar across the day, compared to the total demand curve…
          Why ?
          Lots of demand in the morning after 6.00 am but solar is almost non existent then !

          Lots of demand in the mornings continuing till around mid day..But whether the wind will provide power in in the lap of ‘Gaia..Not exactly the best way to run a modern society’

          00

      • #
        ivan

        I like the graphs shown on http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ although it might be better is the unreliables were separated out.

        00

  • #
    Another Ian

    Time for circle work with your worry beads

    Check the Ebola items from

    https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2019/06/08/w-o-o-d-8-june-2019/#comment-113433

    and following

    20

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Yeah although if the vaccine is botched, it could likely propagate the disease, rather than stop it.

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      • #
        toorightmate

        I really worry about Ebola BECAUSE UN/WHO are involved.
        They have a strong track record of turning unfavourable events into outright catastrophes.

        20

  • #
    Dennis

    Cheap renewables put old coal at risk: The Weekend Australian

    The Great Climate Myth written by Bjorn Lomborg: The Weekend Australian – explains why renewables are not viable.

    Sorry, behind a paywall.

    40

    • #
      scaper...

      Yeah, I put up the whole Bjorn article with attribute two threads ago. Apparently, it is not on here.

      Funny that. I pay my subscription, access the article, can share it on Facebook and Twitter, but not here?

      40

  • #
    beowulf

    From London, the acid-attack capital of the western world, where acid is used now in preference to knives — although it is also the knife-crime capital of Europe — we get this.

    Many will have seen reports of the sick “joke” BBC luvvie and comedian Jo Brand broadcast on Tuesday on BBC4 Radio. It involved a recommendation to throw battery acid rather than milkshakes onto right wing politicians and their followers, where “right wing” is loosely defined as anyone to the right of Marxist Jeremy Corbin.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/06/13/uk-police-investigate-bbc-comedian-jo-brand-over-acid-attack-joke/

    After failing to act for 3 days, the Metropolitan Police have decided not to proceed against Ms Brand for incitement to violence. Melting someone’s face off via an acid attack is of course extremely humourous and therefore exempt from hate speech laws if espoused by folks of the leftist political persuasion.

    About 2 months ago UK police did however react very quickly to arrest a mother at home in front of her very young children and drag her away in handcuffs for 24 hours for the heinous crime of MIS-GENDERING. This happened after a complaint from a twitter troll who was a transgender male-female when the arrestee called her/him a man on twitter. It transpired that the misgenderee had a history of making similar complaints against people who had the audacity to call him a man. Misgendering is a hate crime under current UK law, whereas inciting acid attacks isn’t as long as you are of the correct political leanings. Sounds fair to me.

    This garbage is coming to a country near you.

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  • #
    pat

    headline on ABC “Just In” page –

    Are wind farms the ‘Formula One cars’ of our future power systems? Explainer
    By Manika Dadson

    16 Jun: ABC: Tasmanian wind farm plans are not all hot air, but how will they work?
    By Manika Dadson
    Tasmania is embarking on a new era of energy production, with multi-million dollar wind farms being constructed, and plans for billions of dollars of more projects in the pipeline.
    The boom is creating work for steel and civil engineering companies.
    So is Tasmania on a verge of a wind farm boom, and where will all the power go?…
    But does the island state really need a lot of wind farms?…

    Farms making our energy more reliable: experts
    Energy analyst Marc White said the proposed wind farms, combined with solar and hydro storage, would make for low cost, reliable power.
    “Wind farms combined with our hydro resources are what we call the perfect dancing partner,” Mr White said.
    “Our hydro storages and our hydro generators, they’re the freight train of the system. They chug through and keep the system stable.”
    “The renewable energy generators such as solar and wind, they’re more like what we call the Formula One cars.”…READ ON
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-16/not-all-hot-air-with-tasmanian-windfarm-plans/11209390

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  • #
    pat

    AUDIO: 12min37sec: 15 Jun: ABC Blueprint for Living: Hungry Cities
    Presented by Jonathan Green, Saturdays at 9am
    Repeated: Sunday 4am, Tuesday 11.30am, Wednesday 1am
    So how did we get here? And what might the history of cities teach us about how to ensure a sustainable urban future?
    Carolyn Steel, Architect and author of Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/hungry-cities/11201358

    a glimpse of the guest above!

    10 Feb: Guardian: “Ultimately we need to pay more for food,” (Carolyn) Steel said. “Ever since industrialisation we’ve been externalising the true cost of food, and now we’re seeing the true cost of that in terms of climate change, mass extinctions, water depletion, soil erosion and diet-related disease…”…

    10

  • #
    pat

    Siobhan is scared, could be our future too. saw it with her own eyes. apocalypse. CAGW is all people are talking about; hot beyond survivability, fighting & killing each other over water:

    AUDIO: 7min38sec: 16 Jun: ABC Sunday Extra: India’s heatwave
    Presented by Hugh Riminton
    11 of India’s 15 warmest years have taken place since 2014.
    The extreme heat has been blamed for deaths, especially amongst the poorest segments of the population, many of whom work outdoors and don’t have the means or the right to take time off from their labour
    ABC’s South Asia Correspondent: Siobhan Heanue
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/sundayextra/correspondent-report-2/11209226

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  • #
    pat

    also on ABC RN last nite, via CBC’s Spark program:

    CBC Spark: YouTube videos have a huge carbon footprint. Here’s one simple way to fix that
    Researchers have found that watching YouTube videos creates as many carbon emissions globally as a city of about half a million people. Chris Preist, a professor of Sustainability and Computer Systems, argues that one simple change could make a big difference: let users listen to videos without having an active screen, something only YouTube premium subscribers can do. The idea is an example of Sustainable Interaction Design…

    CBC Spark: A 200-year-old bicycle inspires design for climate change
    A wheelie sustainable form of transport
    “Understanding a little bit of the history of the bicycle, as it relates to climate resilience, is pretty important for a generation of practitioners that are going to be facing climate changes as part of their design work,” Rajkovich told Spark host Nora Young…
    Another team built a bicycle out of a single sheet of plywood. “It was incredibly thin and lightweight…

    ITA BUTTROSE – HERE’S AN IDEA. WHY NOT CHANGE THE CORPORATION’S NAME TO ABCAGW?

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  • #
    pat

    15 Jun: ABC: Aboriginal rangers join team of CSIRO scientists to monitor atmospheric changes in the tropics
    By Kate Ashton
    (CSIRO climate scientist Zoe) Loh said the Gunn Point station was one of about 50 around the world, including a station at Cape Grimm in Tasmania, feeding in to an international network.
    “We’re getting not just a record of the major greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, but we can measure a whole range of other trace gasses, too, that are really important in the global carbon cycle,” she said.
    “This station, like all of those globally, really show the rise on rise, year on year out of all of the major greenhouse gases,” she said.

    She said the data from the Gunn Point site was particularly valuable as there was an underrepresentation of monitoring sites in the tropics. Most of the monitoring sites globally were in Western Europe or southern latitudes of the southern hemisphere, she said…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-15/air-pollution-aboriginal-rangers-monitoring-csiro-gunn-point-nt/11213662

    AUDIO: 4min1sec: ABC PM: How might climate change affect cyclones? Scientists closer to answers
    By Emilia Terzon on PM
    This week at a major meteorological conference in Darwin, scientists say they’re getting closer to answers.
    Featured:
    Michael Montgomery, Naval Postgraduate School in California
    Savin Chand, Federation University Australia
    Kevin Tory, Bureau of Meteorology
    https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/how-might-climate-change-affect-cyclones/11211520

    Related link below above:

    Climate change ***already affecting hurricanes and tropical cyclones, research shows
    ABC Science By environment reporter Nick Kilvert
    Posted 15 November 2018

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  • #
    el gordo

    Moon Mining

    ‘In the 2016 white paper on space activities, released by the Information Office of the Chinese State Council, the government outlined how its space program is oriented toward “economic and social development,” as opposed to NASA’s model, which remains, to this day, more focused on “space exploration” and “scientific discovery.”

    National Review

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    • #
      Dennis

      China calls it the perfect fuel, Helium-3, discovered during Moon landings in the soil Helium-3 is a huge resource that offers Earth affordable fuel for reactors generating electricity. The US has been working on future Moon factories and mining ventures to extract Helium-3 utilising solar energy and to liquify the gas overnight during the extreme cold.

      10

    • #
      toorightmate

      Yep, it’s time to mine the moon.
      Just look at how successful we have been at mining the oceans. The moon should be a piece of cake (or is that cheese?).

      20

  • #
    pat

    here’s a bright idea! picked up by RenewEconomy, Greenbiz, EnergyPostEU:

    29 May: TheConversation: A radical idea to get a high-renewable electric grid: ***Build way more solar and wind than needed
    Authors:
    Richard Perez, Senior Research Associate in Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, State University of New York
    Karl R. Rabago, Professor of Law; Executive Director, Pace Energy and Climate Center, Pace University
    Marc Perez, senior researcher at Clean Power Researcher, who wrote his dissertation at Columbia University on this subject, contributed to this article. Morgan Putnam, VP of Solar Analytics at REsurety, also contributed.

    Disclosure statement
    Richard Perez works at the University at Albany. He has received research funding from the USDOE, Environment Canada, NASA, NYSERDA and Clean Power Research. He is a member of the American and International Solar Energy Societies. Clean Power Research led the USDOE-funded Minnesota Solar Pathways project that demonstrated the firm power generation optimization results presented herein. The project’s Lead Scientist was Marc Perez, and project PI was Morgan Putnam. The authors also acknowledge the USDOE-funded Northeast Solar Energy Market Coalition (NSEMC) project to harmonize solar policies in the northeastern US.

    Karl R. Rábago works for the Pace Energy and Climate Center, a not-for-profit project of Pace University. He is also principle of Rábago Energy LLC, a consulting business. The Pace Energy and Climate Center currently receives and has received a wide variety of private foundation grants, federal funding, state funding. Rábago is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Resource Solutions, ACE-NY, and Solar United Neighbors.

    The study demonstrates that overcoming the natural variability of solar and wind can be accomplished at costs below current grid costs (so-called “grid parity”) by overbuilding solar and wind resources and adopting a grid operating strategy of allowing about 20% to 40% curtailment of excess energy generation. Energy storage is also used in our model, but the superior economics directly result from substituting excess curtailable generation for more expensive storage…READ ON
    https://theconversation.com/a-radical-idea-to-get-a-high-renewable-electric-grid-build-way-more-solar-and-wind-than-needed-113635

    10

    • #
      pat

      CleanTechnica’s response:

      15 Jun: CleanTechnica: Curtailment Is The Easy Answer
      by Barry A.F.
      In a recent article, we found that curtailment of renewables may be cheaper than grid scale energy storage…
      The right already weaponizes the intermittency of renewables and this will only escalate as curtailment of renewable generation enters the discussion…
      Interestingly, California is already curtailing solar generation, though it seems to be a case of solar being easier to curtail than fossil fuels or hydropower…

      In Australia, instead of throttling coal, they use it to heat hot water at night to help stabilize demand by creating artificial demand when generation would otherwise be curtailed. Doing this also reduces daytime demand when grid usage is highest and they struggle to meet peak power. The practice is essentially time shifting daytime loads into the night. The practice is lossy because the hot water is being generated and stored when its not really needed and it loses some heat as it waits to be used. More on this later…READ ON
      https://cleantechnica.com/2019/06/15/curtailment-is-the-easy-answer/

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      • #

        In Australia, instead of throttling coal, they use it to heat hot water at night to help stabilize demand by creating artificial demand when generation would otherwise be curtailed.

        (my bolding here)
        And therein lies the biggest lie ever foisted on the public.

        The lowest that power generation gets down to on an overnight basis is (the year round average) 18000MW. Of that total, coal fired power makes up 14500MW. (also the year round average)

        The power used during the night for off peak hot water comes in at around 10 to 12% of that total, but only for ….. ONE HOUR.

        When it kicks in, you can see the load curve for actual power consumption rise by that 10%, and then immediately begin to fall again, in line with the rate of fall if it was not being consumed.

        Tony.

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        • #
          Hanrahan

          In Qld the “switched” supply into which you can plug permanently wired appliances such as how water and split system aircons, but not stoves, is switched off during peaks. That was once for a couple of hours total. Checking now it has become tougher.

          Economy tariffs – Ergon Energy
          Search domain http://www.ergon.com.au/retail/residential/tariffs-and-prices/economy-tariffshttps://www.ergon.com.au/retail/residential/tariffs-and-prices/economy-tariffs
          Ergon Network manages the hours of supply for these tariffs, which may be switched off at any time to manage electricity demand. Each day, Tariff 33 is available for at least 18 hours while Tariff 31 is available for at least 8 hours. The times of day that power is available may change from day to day and vary in duration.

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          • #
            pat

            TonyfromOz/Hanrahan –

            thanks, tho i’m still not sure what to make of the claims in that article. there is more on this particular bit later in the article.

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        • #

          Sorry, visitors arrived before I could chase up and post the link to prove my point about hot water barely making 10% of overnight consumption for one hour.

          Go to the AEMO link below.

          Once you are there, see that darker coloured menu line. Just below that at the top right is a tab indicating 5 Min. Click on that. When the new page opens, it is defaulted to NSW. (tab at top left) You’ll see it best on the tab for South Australia, (SA) so click on that tab first. It opens to the Load Curve for actual power consumption for that State.

          Scroll your mouse across the main screen and at the bottom, you’ll see the time indicated and a vertical line showing the time you are at, and nearby, the total power consumption at that time, and you’ll see the evening peak at around 6.15PM or so. (1815) Note how power consumption falls away from that time. Then you’ll see a spike upwards at around 11PM to 11.30PM.

          THAT is the off peak hot water kicking in. It spikes up around 10 to 12% of the max (evening peak) and then resumes its same shape downward trend. It takes around an hour to an hour and a half to get back where it started its uptick.

          You can do the same with the big three power consuming States, but keep in mind that as bigger consumers, that graph is a lot smaller due to the scale of those States having much larger power consumption. However, that same (small) uptick in power consumption is the same for every State at around the same time.

          That’s all there is for off peak water heating.

          So, it’s not what has been told to you for all these years. It’s hardly anything at all.

          AEMO Dashboard

          Tony.

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          • #
            pat

            TonyfromOz –

            I just repled to you and Hanrahan, before seeing your new comment. thanx for the info, as I was hoping you would provide some facts.

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          • #
            Bill in Oz

            Tony I am used to the Hot water load kicking in after 11 pm at night. from living in Victoria long while. But my understanding is that here in SA hot water heaters can also kick in at any time of the day if necessary..As in if a tank of hot water is used up completely.. Or reheating a tank that has been turned off..
            this would affect the load curve somewhat..
            Bll

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    • #
      yarpos

      Working well in Sth Australia isnt it?

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  • #
    el gordo

    Cosmic rays emitted from Antarctica and the Standard Model offers no explanation.

    ‘There’s something mysterious coming up from the frozen ground in Antarctica, and it could break physics as we know it.

    ‘Physicists don’t know what it is exactly. But they do know it’s some sort of cosmic ray — a high-energy particle that’s blasted its way through space, into the Earth, and back out again. But the particles physicists know about — the collection of particles that make up what scientists call the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics — shouldn’t be able to do that.’

    Live Science

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  • #
    Zane

    Constant harping in The Guardian about the ” Climate Emergency “. No wonder the masses are brainwashed by fake news.

    40

    • #
      Dennis

      The “emergency” is about “fake news” and the unprofessional journalists who spread it far and wide.

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    • #
      sophocles

      Let’s have a Real Crisis instead of a fake one.

      Now the Activists are all running around declaring “Climate Crises.” These only serve to distract from the real crisis: the magnetic pole excursion. “Oh, it’s only the magnetic field — whatever that is. It can’t be much of a crisis, so let’s not prepare for it.” About all I can see of the climate crisis is one of belief — the Deniers are winning and that’s a CRISIS! A fake one.

      Unfortunately, some crises are forced upon us and they are of such size and power there is nothing we can do about them,
      except try to survive them.

      Let’s have a Real Crisis, then:

      Sometime this century we are going to have a magnetic pole swap or excursion. We don’t know exactly when. We won’t know how complete it will be until it’s over. If we’re still here.

      1. Magnetic pole swaps are often accompanied by an extinction. How many species or which ones, will be lost we have no way of knowing. It could take out Homo Sapiens. The Laschamp one c. 40,000 years ago took out Homo Neanderthalensis. (Neanderthal Man) and the Lake Mungo (33,700 YA) finished them off.

      2. The planetary magnetic field is now falling at a rate of over 5% per decade. When it reaches 50% on the way down, it might be too late. Last year it was somewhere around 80-85% of what it should be and falling.

      3. It will happen this century (according to Stanford U.)

      4. Temperatures will fall dramatically (the Svensmark Effect). Magnetic reversals are often accompanied by glaciations. (Ice ages.) Big Rock Impacts (as in The Rock from Space) can trigger a short-lived excursion/reversal. The mammoths and the sabre tooth tigers (along with many others) went during the Younger Dryas (12,500 – 11,500 YA)

      5. National Grids will fail globally from the extreme exposure to Galactic Cosmic Rays. There aren’t the resources (transformers, switches etc) available to rebuild them for decades if not centuries. That’s assuming Homo Sapiens survives …

      6. New species appear. Okay, that drops Darwin on the floor. Next?

      There’s no way we can anticipate how complete the coming excursion will be. The (Laschamp) was complete, a full swap which lasted c. 400 years before swapping back. The planet’s magnetic field fell to 10% of it’s normal value and to 5% during the transitions. There have been others. Quite a few.

      Magnetic Reversals and Excursions seem to be the evolutionary “New Broom.

      In the mean time, the Climate is still doing what the climate usually does, and doing it with aplomb. Crisis? What Crisis? In comparison, it’s trivial.

      Just thought you needed to know The Real Crisis. It’s coming … 🙂

      Don’t bother with the law suits. I don’t think I’ll be here to see it all. 🙂

      So yes, let’s have a climate crisis instead and dance in the streets. Party party party while we and they (the streets) last.

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      • #

        Meanwhile we are showing ourselves singularly unprepared to adapt sans fossil energy. ..Now let me see, candles, matches, (flints?) axe, (not stone) whiskey, canned soups. bow and arrow, fur coat …

        10

        • #
          yarpos

          Actually we have done that all before, but we have devalued that knowledge and frequently disparage those that value and practice it.

          Old school rules, rational preppers are not crazy

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        • #
          sophocles

          Of course, Beth. There is this belief that “… it just ain’t gonna happen!”

          Slings, spears with woomeras … to add my tuppence worth to the list … two stones: flint and iron pyrites (fools gold) makes for easy lighting of fires. No matches needed, just good kindling.

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          • #

            Given today’s matches 🙁 and mebbe the disappearance of the corner shop, even Coles New World, yikes!!…given the magnetic event, flint and fools gold is good advice. Thx, Sophocles.

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      • #
        theRealUniverse

        I would totally agree. Fire from the sky…massive electrical activity ionosphere to ground, virtually no B field.

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        • #
          sophocles

          The sun is just a little bit larger than planet Earth. Ever so slightly…

          20

          • #
            theRealUniverse

            I wish the turkeys that push the ridiculous cc crap would actually look at the pictures of the earth against the sun and how it would disappear into one small sunspot..and then say CO2 controls the atmosphere.
            Cant be the sun its CO2.

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            • #
              sophocles

              I’ve thought that many times.

              But their minds are too small …

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              • #
                Graeme No.3

                from Brian Foley “Floods, Famines and Emperors” (copyright 1999)

                “The rulers of ancient civilisations claimed power over storms or famine…this was the source of their authority that coerced people into laboring for the common good.
                They also created new levels of social inequality…A vast social chasm separated the ruler and the tiny number of affluent favourites from the…poor.
                When climate…change caused…social unrest to erupt, ancient civilisations could collapse because …the rulers had lost their infallibility.”

                What does he mean by ‘ancient’?

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    • #
      mem

      The masses don’t read the guardian. In fact these days they don’t read that much which is why the media gets it all wrong when it comes to voting and peoples’real views.

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  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    15 Jun: UK Telegraph: Ministers accused of reintroducing consumer subsidies for onshore wind turbines ‘by the back door’
    By Edward Malnick
    Ministers are being accused of covertly reintroducing consumer subsidies for onshore wind turbines, despite the Conservatives’ pledge to ditch the lucrative incentives for energy firms.
    A new government green energy scheme will guarantee payments to operators of pairs of turbines each up to 490 feet high, and solar farms spanning up to 20 acres, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

    Campaigners against further onshore turbines said the policy could encourage an “explosion” of new wind and solar schemes across the country, as well as the extension of existing projects.
    The move comes despite a Tory manifesto promise to halt the spread of onshore wind farms and “end any new public subsidy for them”…
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/06/15/ministers-accused-reintroducing-consumer-subsidies-onshore-wind/

    ***what’s with the health care checks?

    15 Jun: Press&Journal Scotland: Solar panel scam warning in Moray
    by David Mackay
    The warning comes after one householder in the region was conned into paying £4,000 for replacement inverters for the equipment by fraudsters.
    The cheque was cancelled before the money had left the account.
    However, trading standards teams in the region have heard reports of residents being increasingly targeted by companies offering ***free health checks and services while implying the warranty on existing inverters has expired.

    Moray Council’s trading standards manager Karen Sievewright said: “We have also received other reports of traders falsely stating that an inverter must be replaced every five to seven years, attempting to persuade vulnerable consumers to pay thousands of pounds for a new inverter that may not be required…
    https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/moray/1774355/solar-panel-scam-warning-in-moray/

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      pat:

      Well my inverter stopped working after 7 years. (symptons no feed-in tariff)
      Had to get a new one which should see me out.

      10

  • #
    joseph

    Another little 5G offering . . . . .

    https://www.arpansa.gov.au/news/misinformation-about-australias-5g-network

    http://www.getafreshstart.com.au/2019/06/06/an-open-letter-to-arpansa-in-response-to-their-press-statement/

    And here’s an ARPANSA pdf file I found most interesting . . . .
    “Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Energy and Health : Research Needs”

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  • #
    Another Ian

    “The cost of this net zero madness? Even a trillion is an underestimate”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/06/15/the-cost-of-this-net-zero-madness-even-a-trillion-is-an-underestimate/

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    Another Ian

    “Controlling kangaroos is essential to increase carbon flows”

    https://www.beefcentral.com/production/controlling-kangaroos-is-essential-to-increase-carbon-flows/

    Red thumbs in 3, 2, 1, –

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  • #
    yarpos

    Something different.

    In the trendy inner northern suburbs of Melbourne a battle is raging that is delicious both in stupidity and irony.

    Decades ago the Melbourne Anarchists Society (cant you just imagine them) based themselves in a run down commercial shopfront in Northcote. Gentrification happens and now it is worth $750,000 or more. Amazingly the Anarchists have splintered into opposing groups, arguing about sale or no sale and who get the money if there is a sale. Anarchy really.

    So now the anarchists have lawyered up and are duking it out in the very establishment courts that have suddenly become OK as a way to resolve disputes. The selling faction also see no problem in dealing with very establishment real estate agents to sell the place. Of course its all being played out in the mainstream media , an anathema to any good Anarchist.

    They have zero self awareness about how ridiculous they area. You cant make this stuff up.

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    • #
      mem

      Many thanks for the update on the anarchist society and its building. My little cottage is around the corner and so I go past most days and have watched the high rise apartments go up next door to it. I have never seen anyone enter or leave the building in ten years even though I walk past it twice per day. It is sort of a quaint artifact of the 70’s and I have always wondered how anarchists can form a group and legally own a building. Quite remarkable really. Keep me posted.

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      • #
        yarpos

        Once $750k is in play, all kinds of mental gymnastics and rationalisations are possible.

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      • #
        TdeF

        The anarchist society is a contradiction in terms. It has been absurd since the land was given. It’s one of the few places where you would reasonably expect the dedicated members to destroy their own building and organizatoin. I rode past it this morning. Laugh every time. It’s a wonder the anarchists can agree on anything let alone form groups.

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    • #
      sophocles

      … and it totally restores your confidence in human stupidity! 🙂

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      Just to add Anarchism was initially a type of very open democracy or not no rules but no rulers, these try hard Melbournites were probably drawn towards collectivist anarchism that was Marxist influenced as opposed to Mutualism that it was based on.

      This was also the shop that UPF members Blair Cottrell, Chris Shortis and others visited and videoed the exchange, they asked genuine questions but the bloke in charge just wanted them to leave swearing etc.. pretty much what you’d expect really.

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  • #
    Peter C

    Tasmania Elects Jaquie Lambie!

    It took 139 counts of the senate votes in Tasmania to arrive at the result. It is indeed a complicated process and I have not had time to analyse it. Somehow Jaquie Lambie got up form about 34.000 votes to the required 59,000 as other candidates were progressively eliminated.

    I was surprised that the last candidate actually got the quota. I thought they might have had to settle for the most votes for the last place.

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    • #
      toorightmate

      Tasmanians deserve Jaquie Lambie – they are that bloody stupid.

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    • #
      beowulf

      And Jim Molan can’t get a go with over 112,000 1st preferences + up to 20,000 more subsidiary prefs.

      The state quota system is past its use-by date. It’s a complete gerrymander. The NSW Liberal faction run by Photios and Sinodinos makes it worse by parachuting in their lap dogs and excluding people with real talent like Molan.

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    Serp

    The Age has opened up another front in Australia’s War On Coal. A story by Adam Carey was drawn to my attention this afternoon by the daughter that thinks Daniel Andrews is an excellent fellow. What can you say? Having forced the decommissioning of Hazelwood the consequent attrition appears to be taking its toll on Loy Yang A and B and giving the headline “least reliable in the country” and with in the opening paragraph “putting the stability of the state’s energy supply at risk”. The sooner Victoria’s coal power is phased out the better off we’ll be eh!

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      TdeF

      Thanks to brown coal, Climate Change is at its very worst in Victoria. There has not been enough rain but today it rained very heavily in some places. We are having a wet drought. People should live in fear and all that Carbon Dioxide pollution is appalling and causing very local global problems.

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  • #

    This is a talk from the sort of site I tend to avoid and I remain wary of much of the site’s content. However the speaker is willing to focus on the critical subject from which we are constantly distracted: the climate of our own geological epoch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duBVeM9-b54

    So much climate commentary and “science” is about today’s CO2 and ice levels post-1979 combined with references to conditions prevailing in remote eras when the earth was younger and the continents were in different places. The stunt is to make us stand too close or too far back so we never even glimpse the picture.

    Looking at real evidence of real climate change is hard and discouraging because we have been raised in the belief that what has been will be if only we stop being naughty. We’re not the first to think that way; the problem is we don’t know we are thinking primitively when we believe in a stable climate disrupted by human activity. We even think we’re being scientific!

    Actual science has accumulated piles of evidence for continuous, continuing and radical climate change and absolutely no evidence for the fantasy of stable or controllable climate at any time. When the white elephant builders talk of keeping the temp at a certain level by a certain date they should be greeted with gusts of laughter by those familiar with human and natural history.

    No, I’m not recommending sites and books about water erosion on the Sphynx and the like. Most of them I’d avoid. I’m saying that ideas which seem crazy only seem so because we have stood too close or too far. To think that the enormous geological changes of the last few thousand years should somehow have stopped so we can get on with our business of growing crops and staying in one place is beyond optimistic…and way short of scientific. The Sahara wasn’t moist millions of years ago, it was moist just a few thousand years ago. Bass Strait wasn’t dry millions of years ago. It filled up just a few thousand years ago.

    If only climate change was the simple, controllable game of the joystick generation where the favourite button is the one marked CO2! Climate change is no game at all. Twiddle all the knobs and levers you like, the Modern Warming will peter out, and pretty soon our interglacial will be decline like all those before it. Nobody refutes it, most choose not to talk about it. Instead, cat videos and CO2.

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    Crakar24

    Was watching some stupid morning show and they a comedian on who had a show based on taking the pee out of people with terminal illness. He had their permission to do this.

    One of the shows hosts stated to one of the terminally ill “What would you say to those people who would take offense on your behalf” and there in lies the problem.

    If I offend someone I want to speak to the monkey not the organ grinder, how dare people assume offence on behalf of others how offensive of them

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    ivan

    France without lights – green stupidity

    The greens in France have gone mad. A new law (since 1st June) compels all businesses and public buildings to turn off lights between 1am and 7am. From observation that, at least in my village, includes all street lights. Even the usually well lit access to and from the main roads become dark.

    At least that will give EDF more electricity to sell to Germany when the wind isn’t blowing at night.

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    pat

    have tried to find a transcript of Peta Credlin’s interview of Gautam Adani, but no success so far.

    from memory, he said it takes half as much of Australia’s coal to produce the same energy as India’s coal.

    is that something that has been mentioned here? is it correct?

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    • #
      toorightmate

      Galilee Basin coal is inferior to other Australian coals in calorific value. It is similar to Indonesian coals.
      Indian coals have wide variances in calorific value, but are generally low.

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      pat

      seems this is the full interview. am watching cricket, so can’t check it for the quote I’m referring to just now, but will do so later. I realise some had problems understanding everything he said:

      VIDEO 17min59sec: 13 Jun: news.com.au: Adani to break ground as soon as tomorrow: Gautam Adani
      In an exclusive interview with Peta Credlin, Gautam Adani says many Indian-based organisations have been watching the progress of the Galilee Basin project, and its success could result peak interest in the area…
      https://www.news.com.au/video/id-5348771529001-6047769723001/adani-to-break-ground-as-soon-as-tomorrow-gautam-adani

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      • #
        pat

        toorightmate –

        found the quote. Peta Credlin asks him about the quality of Australian coal around 8 minutes in. he answers that it takes half as much Australian coal per unit of energy, or words to that effect.

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    pat

    16 Jun: Reuters: Extinction Rebellion delays drone protest at Britain’s Heathrow until after summer
    by Matthew Green
    Initial proposals to use drones floated last month caused a backlash among some supporters who feared a furore over safety concerns would eclipse the group’s broader message over the need to take radical action to tackle the climate crisis…

    That earlier draft of the plan had stated that there was ‘no chance’ of flying drones while planes were in the air since the movement would inform the authorities of their plans well in advance, forcing the airport to ground all flights…
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-protests-climatechange/extinction-rebellion-delays-drone-protest-at-britains-heathrow-till-after-summer-idUKKCN1TH064

    16 Jun: EveningStandardUK: Extinction Rebellion Heathrow shutdown: Campaign group calls off 10-day drone protest at airport
    by Stephanie Cockroft
    A leaked internal memo had shown drones would potentially be used to stage the protest , prompting the government to warn that any such demonstrations would be met with the “full force of the law”.
    Heathrow also said using drones would be “reckless” and could endanger lives…

    XR said if drones are used for future demonstrations that operators would fly them at a maximum height of six feet within the restricted 5km zone surrounding Heathrow.
    They would also not be flown within flight paths, but could still be used in areas that could force the airport “to safely close airspace”, the group said.
    The group added that airport authorities and the public would be given two months’ notice of any planned action…
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/extinction-rebellion-calls-off-10day-drone-protest-at-heathrow-airport-a4168316.html

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      ivan

      Sounds as if they realised that protesting during holiday time might just get those trying to go on holiday to roll over them, also mummy and daddy might not take them to nice places overseas.

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    pat

    16 Jun: Guardian: Hopes for climate progress falter with coal still king across Asia
    A depressing picture of global power generation has coal still firmly on top. And in a vicious cycle, the very heatwaves and ***winter freezes high carbon emissions cause seem to be increasing them
    by Jillian Ambrose
    PIC: Chimneys “smoke”
    Spencer Dale, BP’s chief economist, says the world’s surging demand for energy – it rose by 2.9% last year – has cemented the defiant growth of coal. Consumption had climbed for a second consecutive year…
    “The peak in global coal consumption, which many thought had occurred in 2013, now looks less certain,” Dale says. “Another couple of years of increases close to last year’s would take global consumption comfortably above 2013 levels.”…

    BP’s backing for gas is unsurprising and self-serving…
    The gas “bonanza” was led by the US shale boom, says Dale. The US shale heartlands in the Marcellus, Haynesville and Permian basins produced an extra 78 billion cubic metres of gas last year. This is the same growth in one year as the previous 12 combined…
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/15/climate-crisis-coal-asia-power-generation-fossil-fuels

    Serp – comment #42 – didn’t provide the following url:

    16 Jun: Age: Victoria’s coal-fired power plants the least reliable in the country
    By Adam Carey
    Victoria’s brown coal-fired power stations are the most unreliable in the country, breaking down far more often than power plants in the rest of Australia and putting the stability of the state’s energy supply at risk…

    The data was compiled by the Australia Institute, a progressive think tank that has been monitoring outages at all of the nation’s coal and gas plants since December 2017…READ ALL
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/victoria-s-coal-fired-power-plants-the-least-reliable-in-the-country-20190614-p51xvb.html

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    pat

    says Yancoal does not have any exposure to the Galilee Basin:

    16 Jun: AFR: Adani approval shows ‘common sense prevailing’: Yancoal boss
    by Peter Ker, Resources reporter
    Yancoal chief executive Reinhold Schmidt welcomed the decision by Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science to approve Adani’s groundwater management plan, which was the final approval outstanding at state level…
    Mr Schmidt, who has been an outspoken critic of approval processes for mines in Australia, said rules needed to be applied consistently and fairly.
    “The approval of Adani is a signal that sense prevails in an industry that is the most highly regulated from an environmental and safety point of view that I know of,” he said…

    Queensland’s approval for Carmichael comes less than a month after voters in the state swung strongly towards the Coalition and conservative parties. Labor’s woes in North Queensland were widely attributed to its lack of emphatic support for Adani, with mining unions urging Labor candidates in the region to pledge their support for mining jobs…

    “We are quite agnostic about who is actually in government – the really important thing is we believe there needs to be consistency in regulatory and policy settings,” he said.
    “The resources industry operates over long-term time horizons. We are looking at 40-year asset life cycles; we need predictability, we need rules, they must not change, they need to be fair and applied consistently.
    “Our projects need to be assessed on their merit and let us get on with the job.”…
    https://www.afr.com/business/energy/adani-approval-shows-common-sense-prevailing-yancoal-boss-20190616-p51y7i

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    pat

    16 Jun: TheWeekIndia: PTI: India’s coal import rises 15% to 24 MT in May
    Coal imports rise as govt mulls easing domestic production targets
    India’s coal import increased by 14.5 per cent to 24.01 million tonnes (MT) in May this year.
    The country’s coal import was at 20.96 MT in May 2019, according to a “mjunction” services report, which is based on monitoring of vessels’ positions and data received from shipping companies…
    The report comes at a time when the government is looking at relaxing the timeline for the one billion tonne coal production target it had set earlier for Coal India (CIL), which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal output…
    https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2019/06/16/indias-coal-import-rises-15-to-24-mt-in-may.html

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    pat

    almost everything at this link – & there is a lot – is FakeNews.

    16 Jun: CNN: What would life be like in a zero-carbon country?
    By Ivana Kottasová
    London (CNN) — Drastic restrictions on almost every aspect of people’s lives, from the cars they drive, the way they heat their homes, to the fridges they buy — even the food stored in them. That is the reality of what awaits us in 2050 if a UK government pledge to cut greenhouse emissions to “net zero” is to be met.
    If it can do it, the country will become the world’s first major economy to stop contributing to climate change.
    But the goal is extremely ambitious — the roadblocks massive…

    “The methane created by livestock is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide … so we will have to reduce meat consumption, but it’s unlikely that we will reduce livestock to zero,” said Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, which is part of London School of Economics…

    One vocal critic is Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg, who called the net zero policy “pointless” because the UK is only responsible for around 1% of global emissions. He argues the cost of the plan will far exceed its benefits, and advocates for more investment into research and development instead.

    But for Ward, and an overwhelming majority of climate scientists and climate economists, the numbers do add up.
    “The only reason why people think that cleaner living is more expensive is because they are forgetting about the hidden costs of our current reliance on fossil fuels,” Ward said.
    “People are paying for the impacts of climate change through increased risks of coastal flooding, increased risk of land flooding, increased risk of droughts, increased risk of heatwaves,” he added…

    OBLIGATORY GRETA, XR PARAS…

    “The government has to recognize it needs to do more … and whoever is prime minister must bring forward new policies that will strengthen the emission reductions, otherwise we won’t get there,” Ward said…

    According to opinion polls by YouGov, the number of Brits who think the climate is among the top three most pressing issues the country is facing has been growing steadily…
    “The UK has not suffered, in the same way as the United States, from any major party denying the science … it’s not a question of whether we should act, it’s about the best way in which to act,” Ward said.
    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/16/uk/net-zero-emission-target-gbr-intl/index.html

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    pat

    lots of detail, read all:

    16 Jun: Bloomberg: Climate Envoys Divide Over Reviving UN’s ‘Zombie’ Carbon Market
    Post-2020 emissions trading returns to the agenda at UN talks on climate change start in Bonn
    by Ewa Krukowska
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-16/climate-envoys-divide-over-reviving-un-s-zombie-carbon-market

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    Richard Ilfeld

    Inquiring minds want to know.

    If the college loan debt of 1.5 trillion dollars across 20 million people with a median income of above $80,000 per year is a crisis and unsustainable, why is the national debt of 22 trillion across 340 million people with a median income below $40,000 per year not a problem.

    “correcting” the former is just another case of robbing the “poor” to subsidize the well-to-do.
    Its the socialist way: the proles don’t get the dachas.

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    Hanrahan

    Millions without power in Argentina and Uruguay.

    “A massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left all of Argentina and Uruguay without power,” electricity supply company Edesur said in a tweet.

    This isn’t a total black start but it sounds as if it will take many hours to get up again. Another barely adequate grid failing with applied stress?

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      yarpos

      Its OK , they have a plan to rapidly increase the amount of wind and solar in their grid (just a few % at the moment). That should make things much more stable and manageable, just what they need by the sound of it.

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