Monday Open Thread

Anzac Day in Australia. Lest We Forget.

10 out of 10 based on 16 ratings

147 comments to Monday Open Thread

  • #

    An interesting discussion of the storage problem. The greens think that the mere existence of research makes it okay to keep building wind and solar, because the solution is coming (they imagine).
    https://www.baconsrebellion.com/wp/the-quest-for-ways-to-store-energy/

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    • #
      b.nice

      I don’t think they have the vaguest clue about the energy density required to store even a few minutes of supply for a large city,

      or the danger that entails. !

      or the huge amount of materials needed.

      Its all just a pipe dream fantasy to them.

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      • #
        Harves

        Have the Greens released their policy stating that they will support all future lithium and copper mines required to sustain their Brave New World?

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      • #
        Ronin

        Energy storage research will become the latest gold rush, govt money for any and every crackpot idea the scammers can come up with.

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        • #
          b.nice

          and the greenie, anti-environment, anti-CO2, anti-life zealots will cheer on every failure.

          (see comment #1.2)

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    • #
      Simon

      Did you actually read the New Yorker article? It gives several examples of renewable storage.

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      • #
        Ronin

        Funny how none of this expense was needed before.

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        • #
          b.nice

          And all of them are tiny storage amounts compared to needs of a large city.

          Its all fantasies, from people sucking on the government teet !

          And not one of them actually creates energy, they all USE it… often very inefficiently.

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          • #
            Dave

            The renewable storage Simon is talking about is a Fracking style of pumped storage.

            At 1/2 the cost of pumped hydro it is still way above affordability, plus the system will cause massive problems.

            A short video of the idea is here.

            More GREEN Dreaming and worse then Hydrogen.

            Why not use Coal, Gas and Nuclear.

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      • #
        b.nice

        “Did you actually read the New Yorker article”

        Read a small amount.

        Could best be described as “Mills and Boon do sci-fant! “

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Plastic bags don’t work, I tried that.

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Did you?

        “Did you actually understand the New Yorker article? It gives several deceitful examples of renewable storage”.

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      • #

        Oh yes Simon, there is no lack of theoretical storage technologies, most quite old. Batteries (Studebaker’s first model in 1910 was electric). Pumped storage (I worked on building one in 1968). Centrifuges. Compressed air. And the new magic — hydrogen (boom).

        But research is not reality. The US alone is estimated to need 250 million MWh of storages for wind and solar net zero. The country has less than 10,000 MWh of batteries and 30,000 MWh of pumped storage, or basically none.

        The transition is impossible using storage. That there is research does not change that. The only interesting question is how and when the impossibility will show up?

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        • #
          David Maddison

          David, someone has done the math for pumped storage in the US and it’s simply not viable toward Biden’s controllers goal of Net Zero, not by a long margin.

          It’s a Green fantasy.

          And pumped storage is the only large scale storage technology that even comes close to being viable, and it still fails.

          https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/11/pump-up-the-storage/

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          • #
            Graeme#4

            David, has anybody done the same for Australia as a whole, not just for the “National” grid?

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            • #
              David Maddison

              Not as far as I know, Graeme.

              But Snowy Hydro 2 will be disaster enough.

              And in any case, in Australia, apart from SH2, its almost impossible to build a dam for any purpose whatsoever, including flood mitigation…

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              • #
                David Maddison

                Actually, my mistake, SH2 doesn’t involve a dam, just tunnels connecting two existing reservoirs and an underground power station.

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              • #
                Graeme#4

                Agree with you on Snowy 2 David. As usual, these storages will simply end up costing the end-users more for their energy. A pity though that we haven’t done our homework on exactly how much storage would be required though. We know that it will be far more than anybody could imagine, but actual calculations and data would be handy.

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      • #
        R.B

        It goes on about a lack of a viable example but then “We need to vastly expand our energy-storage capacity if we’re to avoid climate catastrophe” rather than The Science made catastrophe of thinking about storage after being well down the path of getting rid of reliable base-load power.

        “Almost all electricity in the world is used as it’s made,” Bill Gross, a longtime investor in solar power and a co-founder of Energy Vault, one of the most highly capitalized new energy-storage companies, told me.

        This is a revelation to the idiot? And you think we need to take this opinion that the solution is just around the corner, seriously?

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      • #
        Serp

        There’s a good laugh in the first stanza where “renewable-energy engineers” are declared to exist (and have hearts susceptible to chilling); other than that, it’s unduly harsh of you expecting us to have followed links within links, bullying almost.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Many software companies are now going from a purchase model to a model where you pay a yearly subscription and if you don’t the software stops working.

    LabVIEW is the latest such software to go to such a model after 30 years of the conventional model.

    A lot of science and engineering professionals and perhaps many who read this blog probably use this software at work.

    The move to a subscription model is annoying many people.

    Here is an excellent comment about the matter, 15 mins.

    Video: https://youtu.be/TAsdr4ypBko

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    • #
      Kim

      Linux – get it for free (donation appreciated).

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    • #
      ozfred

      If you don’t need the new features, do not upgrade. How many people still use Windows XP?

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    • #
      Graeme#4

      A lot of iPhone apps are doing this. I’ve had to give up some quite useful apps that I thought I had paid for.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      The Quicken bookkeeping package went this way many years ago.

      They have small biz over a barrel. Accountants must stay up to date but there are always backwards compatibility problems so even if the tax payer is happy with the old programme he owns, the accountant isn’t.

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      • #
        another ian

        H

        Quicken was the one piece of software that I had that got “Y2K-ed”. It mostly worked but the reconcile part must have had its own time unit and it didn’t.

        Caused my first business software migration – which is to be avoided IMO – though I did escape Quickbooks

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    • #
      Deano

      Labview is an excellent program but certainly it was never cheap (I think it was around AU$6000 to AU$8000 a few years ago). As with CAD software like AutoCAD and DraftSight that have switched to subscription models that stop working after 12 months, people just get annoyed and look for companies that supply permanent licenses with, say, 12 months of updates included in the initial price then you can upgrade when needed such as Rhino CAD.
      I remember that HP had a Labview competitor about 20 years ago but I don’t know if it still exists. Thank God for competition.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    The brave soldiers that died in Australia’s past wars in support of freedom would likely be apalled at what has become of the Australia they fought for.

    Thank you for your sacrifice.

    Lest we forget.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Correction: appalled.

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      • #
        Greg in NZ

        25 April, ANZAC Day:

        Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

        Some of the old Kiwi diggers would be appalled too, David. Thankfully my mother’s father, a shepherd turned sapper/engineer, returned from Gallipoli, shaken and stirred yet alive – however he never forgot, until he was laid to rest. Peace at last.

        Never again?

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    • #
      PeterS

      Yes lest we forget but sadly many have indeed forgotten. We all should be appalled but too many are actually indifferent or applauding the fact we have lost some of our freedoms and some are even pleased at the thought that a lot more of our freedoms are to go as we continue down the current path.

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      • #
        Destroyer D69

        I WILL Remember THEM,but,I will NEVER forget or forgive the destruction of the Australia fought for by those heroes,carried out by the administrations who were given the honour and responsibility of maintaining that which has been built on the blood of the ANZAC sacrifices.

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  • #
    Peter the Moderate

    Yong people, worried about climate change are being labeled ‘doomers’

    Seems appropriate

    /source smh

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    • #
      PADRE

      We held a very moving ANZAC Day service in our little Victorian town (one which had been destroyed by fire in 2009). There was a tremendous turnout and a great atmosphere. We had requested military support for the parade and ceremony and we were rewarded with the presence of six young sailors from HMAS Cerberus. I talked to them after the ceremony and couldn’t help being thoroughly impressed by their enthusiasm, their bearing and their confidence. They were young men of which we can be duly proud.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    So Macron won the French election against Marine Le Pen. In typical fashion Le Pen was described as “far right” by the Left/media but in reality she was a traditional conservative, probably much in alignment with Australia’s conservative parties like United Australia Party, One Nation, Liberal Democrats etc..

    Macron is probably much like Australia’s PM, an empty vessel who believes in nothing and fights for nothing and sits on the fence. According to Wikipedia Macron described his party thus:

    has described it as being a progressive party of both the left and the right.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki
    La République En Marche! – Wikipedia

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    • #
      Ronin

      Another 5 years of Macron, sacre bleu, his grandmother wife says ‘I’m ready for another 5 years, he has a plan for France’, yeah I’d love to hear it.

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        GlenM

        I will govern for all Frenchman. Yeah most of regional France voted for Le Pen or Zammour. A greatly divided land. I love rural French people – so French unlike those commie effete Parisians.

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    • #
      Brenda Spence

      Klaus Schwab will be happy.

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    • #
      PeterS

      Yes, it’s another example of too many people not knowing what they are doing and getting the government they deserve. I expect it will be repeated here too when we have our turn to elect our next government.

      [Or you could do something about it. – Jo]

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    • #
      Catherine

      2017, on YouTube:
      ‘EU anthem ‘Ode to Joy’ plays as Macron arrives at victory rally’
      The European Union anthem “Ode to Joy” played as Emmanuel Macron arrived Sunday in the courtyard of Paris’s Louvre museum to deliver his election victory speech to thousands of supporters

      2022, on YouTube:
      ‘Live – Election day: Emmanuel Macron arrives at the Champ de Mars FRANCE 24
      Emmanuel Macron arrives at the Champ de Mars in Paris. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the European Union’s anthem, plays as he makes his way to the stage, as it did ahead of his victory speech five years ago.

      2017, on YouTube
      “Emmanuel Macron assume : “Il n’y a pas UNE culture française !” (This is kind of ‘funny’, look at the hand wriggling…)

      Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was enthusiastic about the result. ‘I am pleased that we can continue our broad and good cooperation within the EU and NATO in the coming years.’

      Prime Minister Alexander De Croo of Belgium has congratulated President Macron on his victory. “The French chose security and the values of the Enlightenment,” he wrote on Twitter.

      German’s Olaf Scholz says he is pleased to be able to continue the good cooperation.
      Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Vice-Chancellor, also hailed the re-election of Emmanuel Macron, saying that a united Europe was the big winner of this election.
      A fine connoisseur of France, the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economy and Climate Franziska Brantner also recalls that ” this is an opportunity for democracy and for Europe, but that we must seize it and that also depends on us Germans. It also emphasizes that the responsibility is shared. »

      Charles Michel, president of the European Council, was also pleased. “We need a France that is fully committed to a united Europe. We can count on France for another five years.’

      Boris Johnson: “Congratulations to Macron on your re-election as President of France. France is one of our closest and most important allies. I look forward to continuing to work together on the issues which matter most to our two countries and to the world.”

      President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also welcomed this re-election. She wrote in French on Twitter: “ Dear Emmanuel Macron, congratulations on your re-election as President of the Republic. I look forward to continuing our excellent cooperation. Together, we will move France and Europe forward. »
      (I always wonder if Macron loves ‘Europe’ more than France…
      I think, there will be social unrest in France in the next 5 years )

      In Italy, the re-election of Emmanuel Macron represents above all the victory of Europeanism against sovereignism, analyzes our correspondent in Rome, Anne Le Nir . “ This is wonderful news for all of Europe ,” rejoices Council President Mario Draghi. Democratic Party Secretary Enrico Letta echoed him, speaking of “ great relief .” For Italia Viva by Matteo Renzi, ” Macron’s victory will strengthen the Paris-Rome axis and will therefore allow Italy to expand its place on the European scene.

      In a move to cut energy consumption and help end reliance on Russian gas, the Italian government has approved plans to restrict the use of air conditioning from May.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Why is rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) used to commemorate ANZAC Day?

    https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/commemoration/symbols-commemoration/rosemary

    Rosemary is an ancient symbol of fidelity and remembrance. The aromatic herb grows wild on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, where the original Anzacs served in World War I. Australians traditionally wear sprigs of rosemary as a symbol of remembrance on Anzac Day or Remembrance Day.

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  • #
    Honk R Smith

    Brave New Hospital World
    Nature must be replaced by Anthronature.
    Should be fine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrpgkGA51FE

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  • #
    David Maddison

    How did Australia so badly fail in the Solomon Islands that the Chicomms will soon build a military base there, just 2000km from Australia and right in our sphere of influence?

    Australia paid good money to the Solomon Islanders so they’d be our exclusive friends.

    https://solomonislands.embassy.gov.au/honi/cooperation.html

    Australia’s aid program to the Solomon Islands

    How we are helping

    2018-19 Bilateral Budget Estimate
    AUD146.1 million

    2018-19 Total Australian ODA Estimate
    AUD187.0 million

    Australia has a deep and longstanding relationship with Solomon Islands. Australia is the largest provider of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Solomon Islands, providing almost two thirds of overseas aid in 2016-17.

    In 2018-19, total Australian ODA to Solomon Islands will be an estimated $187.0 million. Of this, DFAT will manage an estimated $146.1 million in bilateral funding.

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    • #
      John

      David, I believe that any ‘failure’ would be that we didn’t give enough of our aid money to corrupt officials, including their PM.

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    • #
      Ronin

      “Australia has a deep and longstanding relationship with Solomon Islands.”

      We thought we did, obviously they go with the highest bidder.

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    • #
      Serp

      Surely any Australian responsibility passes up the chain to those same powers who instruct our government on which policies to pursue such as for instance to purchase nuclear submarines; we’d only have been following orders, it’s not as if we’re an autonomous country.

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  • #
    el+gordo

    Kate Doyle explains in simple language why its been so wet and suggests there is no obvious connection to AGW.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-23/why-it-wont-stop-raining-la-nina-climate-driver/101008962

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    • #
      b.nice

      These lines are interesting…

      With or without climate change, eastern Australia has a long history of diabolical flooding, going all the way back through to colonisation and beyond with Indigenous accounts and sedimentary records.”

      I would have like to see her mention that large water release from the volcano.

      Rather unusual for an ABC weather presenter to downplay the “climate change” agenda… Hope she keeps her job. !

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Rather unusual for an ABC weather presenter to downplay the “climate change” agenda… Hope she keeps her job. !

        Indeed.

        How did that one slip by Their ABC censors?

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      • #
        el+gordo

        Kate Doyle covered the volcanic eruption and decided it was not a significant factor, she interviewed Trewin.

        ‘But because it has travelled around 35km up, it is not affecting our weather.

        “The normal rain that we get, even in the summer, the maximum height of thunderstorms is around 16 or 17 kilometres in the tropics, and usually a bit lower in the mid-latitudes,” he said.

        “So they are just not interacting with that volcanic cloud.”

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        • #
          b.nice

          Oh, she really thinks all the water went up 35km, and none stopped half or part way… very funny !

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          • #
            el+gordo

            She was interviewing Blair Trewin, senior research scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology, who has a warm bias. So Kate was basically paragraphing what he said and then direct quotes.

            For a young journalist its extraordinary that she hasn’t been brainwashed and takes the Journalist Code of Ethics very seriously.

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            • #
              b.nice

              “She was interviewing Blair Trewin”

              Certainly a person she could catch a bad case of ignorance from !

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              • #
                el+gordo

                Yes indeed.

                ‘He was the lead developer of the main long-term Australian temperature data set, ACORN-SAT. In the international sphere, he was the scientific coordinator of the World Meteorological Organisation’s annual Global Climate Statement in 2016, and is a member of the WMO’s Task Team on Homogenisation.’ (The Conversation)

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              • #
                b.nice

                he must have done a crash course on how to mutilate data !

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              • #
                el+gordo

                Assuming there will be a Royal Commission, Trewin and David Jones are bound to be called.

                ‘It is not disputed that Blair Trewin under the supervision of David Jones (both working at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology) remodel all the historical temperature data generating trends and statistics that look quite different from the actual measurements.

                ‘The remodelled series are then passed on to university and CSIRO climate scientists who base much of their climate research on these ‘second-hand’ statistics.

                ‘So, when Michael Mann and David Karoly tell you it’s getting hotter and hotter, this is their interpretation of Blair Trewin’s statistics, not their interpretation of the actual data.’ (Jennifer Marohasy)

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Consistent with reports of other people on this blog, yesterday and at other times, everyone I know who has gotten ‘Rona has been vaxxed.

    Only one person I know who was unvaxxed got it and they had a confirmed case of delta and were only mildly sick for a few days but not sick enough to be confined to bed.

    All the unvaxxed I know are on some form of the Zelenko protocol such as taking Quercertin, zinc and vitamin D but in Australia no prophylactic HCQ or IVM as Klaus Schwab student, Greg Hunt made that illegal.

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    • #
      b.nice

      Guy down the road is unvaxxed and got a slight dose.

      He’s one of these guys that works hard, physically, all day .. and he said he had a couple of days where he found himself struggling, aching a lot, so took 3 days off, spent sitting in front of the tele.

      Next door neighbour , double vaxxed at least, was out of action for a week.

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      • #
        Greg in NZ

        In my small circle, ALL those who were inoculated – oops, ‘protected’ – caught the bug and after 3 days were back on their feet. They still marvel that I’m alive, as I do too.

        The Cook Islands announced their first C-19 ‘death’, a “fully vaccinated and boostered” elderly woman with numerous health conditions on Aitutaki. Make of that what you will. Tonight’s menu is scotch fillet with onion garlic chilli and a few drams o’ whisky to wash it all down. ✔️ Good medicine.

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      mawm

      It seems as if the last lie has been finally put to bed.

      “Randomized controlled trials show all-cause mortality reduction from the Covid adenovirus-vector vaccines (RR=0.37, 95%CI: 0.19-0.70) but not from the mRNA vaccines (RR=1.03, 95%CI 0.63-1.71).”

      That’s it RR = 1.03 – the mRNA vaccines do not alter the mortality from covid.

      https://brownstone.org/articles/have-people-been-given-the-wrong-vaccine/

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  • #
    Ronin

    No wonder Flinders and King Islands are lacking unreliable energy, the wind is only 2 mph due to a high pressure zone and it must be cloudy.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Fortunately they have reliable fossil fuel (diesel) generation.

      The solar and wind is just there for show.

      No wonder Hydro Tasmania, a government corporation, refuse to publish any economic figures for the installation. As a government corporation they should be forced to publish these figures. Perhaps they are too embarrassing?

      You’d think that of all possible places to put solar and wind installations, the Bass Strait islands would be places they could actually be justified, but not even there, apparently.

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Well they installed solar panels in Germany and the UK which are closer to the (N) pole than these island are to the (S) pole, and they are supposed to be “saving the planet”. In winter they don’t deliver even if the snow is brushed off the panels.
        And come to think I thought I heard someone mention that North Sea turbines didn’t deliver that much in 2021, and that the UK had 8 days recently very little wind generation (ODD that as these are supposedly the windy months).

        Still the politicians will solve this by throwing more of our money at “saving the planet” but I am not sure that will work.
        Keep believing Graeme – remember the audience saved Tinker Bell by belief (James Barry Peter Pan the play).

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  • #
    KP

    The most blatant example of lies and propaganda about the Ukraine war-

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/it-s-moments-of-defiance-that-define-a-war-20220424-p5afpa.html

    I cannot see how anyone could take mainstream media seriously.

    “In all the horror of the appalling Russian invasion of Ukraine, the defiance and resilience of the Ukrainian people has been inspirational. Cue President Volodymyr Zelensky responding to the US offer to get him out: “I don’t want a ride, I want ammunition.”” Said Zelensky from his TV studio in Poland….

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Any audiophiles out there?

    Forget about multi-thousand dollar speakers.

    A YouTuber has built what he claims (and others confirm) might be “the world’s best speakers” for minimal money, e.g about US$115.

    All they consist of is a flat, low density, round, square or rectangular foam board to which is attached an “exciter” which is basically just a speaker coil without the cone.

    The concept of using a driver to excite boards and structures is not new however, and has been around since at least the 1970’s and probably earlier. I guess what’s different now is the dissemination of knowledge that’s possible plus the ability via computer software for people to do their own audio measurements without a multi-million dollar lab.

    See https://youtu.be/CKIye4RZ-5k

    Also, why are Bose speakers (considered) so good? It’s not due to a flat frequency response, which they don’t have. They have enhanced bass, so don’t give a natural sound but an artificially altered one. See https://youtu.be/RR10zEqVRvI and comments of producer and others.

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    • #
      Annie

      I agree about the Bose speakers. We have a couple and I find the bass far too much; it distorts the sound of the music. Our old equipment (Panasonic) had a way of adjusting this but not the Bose.

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      Bruce

      Planar, polystyrene foam speaker have been around for decades.

      One of their big uses is as “active” ceiling tiled on suspended ceilings.

      The better ones have the “panel” moulded on the rear to mount separate high and low frequency drivers.

      In “free air” the all sound a bit thin because of phase cancellation at low frequencies. Properly seals in an “infinite baffle”, (ceiling or walll), they start to sound OK.

      The other limitation of their low-frequency performance is the physical limitations inherent in the “elasticity” of the styrofoam panel..

      Bose? Adequate, the classic 901 Series of “direct / reflecting speakers are a bit of an enigma.Nine one Ohm drivers in a series network is an odd way to do things, To make the drivers reproduce reasonable levels of HF and LF audio, there has to be an “equalizer” (usually an active one) to apply a “smiley-face” EQ curve to the signal before power amplification.

      The “Industrial grad” Model 802 is basically the 901 minus the single front driver and rigged such that the other eight drivers are facing the punters.

      I’ll take REAL speakers; Meyer, D+B, Electrovoice, etc. any time in preference. For domestic, sanely-priced boxes: KEF, B & W,(especially the classic B&W 801) are among my favourites. Also domestically (and “professionally”, you can have the most accurate speakers in the world, but if the room is crap, so will be the sound. In a pro setup, it’s not just the room, but the operators with flogged-out ears and musicians who believe that louder is gooder

      If you must play with “planar” speakers, seek out a system running “Quad” brand electrostatics (and a good sub-woofer..) Placement sensitive and quite power-hungry, they are NICE, but most definitely NOT cheap.

      Do not fall into the trap of hearing with your eyes. If your ears alone put a smile on your dial, then you may well be satisfied with that. If your ears and face are still smiling after three or four GOOD albums of your musical poison, Yo are in luck.

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    • #
      Graeme#4

      I used to make newspapers play music in the 60s. Definitely “impress the natives” stuff.

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    • #
      Dave in the States

      A flat response is wanted at high (live band) play back volume, but if you listen to your recorded music at “comfortable”, or not to annoy the neigbors, volume levels, you need to have enhanced bass.

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      • #
        Bruce

        Dave: Yep!

        Hence the “Loudness” function on many amplifiers. It provides a LF and HF “boost” and should only be used if listening at relatively low levels. Unless you are running a “disco, in which case it is ALL about “DOOF and Tish”; and subtlety be damned.

        The human ear is itself a “non-linear transducer”

        Human ears are located on the side of the head. This greatly enhances the ability to “locate” the source of a sound. However, this feature is less effective if the sound is coming from behind or directly above. Another cute thing about ears is the “cirduitry”. This is set up to detect and analyze the time difference between the arrival of a sound at one ear compared to the other. The precision of such a feature, it degrades as you age, because of steady loss of high-frequency hearing. Try walking around on a busy street whilst wearing a soft ear-defender plug in only one ear. Scary.

        We are meant to have stereo vision and stereo hearing. They help you live longer.

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      • #
        Bruce

        Music from a newspaper?

        Didjareadaboutitdoo?

        Or did it involve a comb?

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  • #
    KP

    ..and the next thrust is this one-

    “Zelensky said “But what they have already done is a powerful enough argument for the world to finally recognise Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and the Russian army as a terrorist organisation.””

    Once the West all parrot that they will build a fake push for it to become law, so then anyone writing in support of Russia (or against America) is liable to arrest and years in prison.

    Its great to live in the free world…

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    • #
      KP

      Well well, seems the West have changed sides without missing a beat, just as Orwell wrote in ‘1984’.

      From going to declare Azov a terrorist organisation in 2019 to having rallies to support them in New York while they declare Russia a terrorist organisation.

      “In 2019, 40 Democrats from the US Congress demanded that the State Department recognize the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion as a terrorist organization. Now they don’t remember this, and after only three years… the Ukrainian diaspora freely organizes rallies for the glory of the Nazis , and officials call them heroes and defenders.”

      https://t-me.translate.goog/s/vityzeva?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Tytler Cycle & Why More Government Help Leads To Less

    By Lance Roberts of The Real Investment Report

    Monday, August 17, 2020 6:52 AM EDT
    The Tytler Cycle

    Scottish economist Alexander Tytler, who, in 1787, was reported to have commented on the then-new American Republic as follows:

    “A democracy is always temporary; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist until the time voters discover they can vote for generous gifts from the public treasury. From that point, the majority always votes for the candidates who promises the most benefits from the public treasury. The result is that every democracy finally collapses due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

    The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been about 200 years. These nations always progressed through this sequence:

    From Bondage to Moral Certitude;
    Moral Certitude to Great Courage;
    Great Courage to Liberty;
    Liberty to Abundance;
    Abundance to Selfishness;
    Selfishness to Complacency;
    Complacency to Apathy;
    Apathy to Dependency;
    Dependency to Bondage.”

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      Philip

      He had observed and written of this before Arthur Phillip landed in Australia. That says a lot, that this is human behaviour, a pattern that has been around for a long time. That makes it real, not some paranoid illusion.

      Which stage are we in ? I ended up choosing complacency to apathy. Signs of the next two showing through.

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        Philip

        People who say the world has gone mad, are correct but not with accuracy. The world has always had the madness in it, it has just been contained, we are now losing control of the madness. And it doesn’t start as such, but is a cycle and you’re in it.

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        KP

        “Signs of the next two showing through”

        Well & truly! Look at the growth in dependency on Govt handouts in the last 50years, paralleled with complete apathy about anything outside any young person’s immediate circle of phone contacts. I’d say we are well into dependency & apathy.

        and democracy lasting… Haha!

        “Coalition has promised voters $833m a day as it outspends Labor in campaign mode”

        Maybe the dictatorship arriving soon will be a Chinese one!

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      Harves

      With more than 50% of Australian society dependent on Govt jobs or welfare handouts and the majority happy to let Govt take away freedoms in order to save the lives of octogenarians, I’d say we are in the ‘Dependency to Bondage’ phase.

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    Hasbeen

    Looks like KP has been taking lessons in straw man building.

    In the same vane. How does the left always know what the right really mean, rather than what they actually say.

    Great inventors the left.

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      KP

      Tell me about straw man building Hasbeen, its a concept that gets thrown around without any explanation, like gas-lighting and a few other new terms.

      Here’s another massive propaganda claim from the West falling apart-

      The Guardian published the first results of a forensic examination of the bodies found in Irpin and Bucha. Despite the anti-Russian rhetoric of the publication, the results indicate the opposite – the shelling of Bucha was carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. British experts said that most of the civilians in Bucha died due to artillery shelling. The Russian army was not in the positions necessary for regular shelling, in contrast to the Ukrainian units, which attacked Bucha and civilians with artillery. Who else could shell the city with artillery when it was under our control, if not the Ukrainian side?

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      Hanrahan

      How does the left always know what the right really mean, rather than what they actually say.

      How indeed.

      And how can they hear dog whistles?

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    Philip

    I become annoyed with phrases and platitudes used. It strikes me as lazy thought.

    One of them is used on ANZAC day, that they fought for our freedom.

    To the defense against the invasion from Asia in ww2 this applies. To be governed by an occupying imperial force as Japan was then would be a direct negative on freedom. That was a valiant fight, one of extraordinary bravery and one we had to have.

    But that’s about it that I could be certain of. The rest I would have to consider. But people don’t, they just throw the phrase about. They could be right, Im not saying they aren’t, but I don’t think much thought goes into it.

    I question whether WW1 should ever have happened. What freedom were they fighting for exactly ? One against Prussian militarism ? At best I guess. They say ww2 was a conituation of one. Sure, but some fight against communism was going to develop at some stage. It’s a battle that goes on today. They’re anout thebest argument I can put for fighting for our freedoms.

    WW1 saw the downfall of the BE. And ultimately it was the BE that supplied our freedoms, life within that period of human history supplied us with a life of less toil, more wealth and civility. For me it all boils down to that, all roads lead to the BE.

    BUt the two wars saw an end to that. And we are not the better for it. Ultimately it will see our freedoms disappear.

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      KP

      ” life within that period of human history supplied us with a life of less toil, more wealth and civility. ”

      The peoples of the countries invaded by the British, and the Spanish before them, and the Portuguese before them, and the Dutch as well, and Belgium, and France, and… did not see colonisation by the British Empire as what you wrote. We got more wealth & less toil, they got their country & culture destroyed.

      All these wars are a blend of politicians sending the peasants off to die at the behest of billionaire businessmen. I would have the tiniest respect for any scum at Parliament if they led from the front, politicians of both countries leading the charge in their wars. Sadly that ideal vanished with the Monarchy.

      How about Germany & Japan Phillip. They lost WW2 and have been occupied by America ever since, but has it been to their disadvantage or are they better off? I read a lovely article about living in Japan, where you can’t even use your own language to talk to the occupiers, and every decision and employment appointment gets vetted by the overlords. Its living in a gilded cage. If we lost WW2 would it be any different?

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    David Maddison

    For those interested in steam engines and early internal combustion engines you may be interested in the Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally this weekend (30th April and 1st May 2022). It is about 2 hrs drive from Melbourne, Australia.

    See:

    https://www.lakegoldsmithsteamrally.org.au/rallies.html

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    David Maddison

    A person once stuck their head in a particle accelerator and a proton beam went through their head. They lived to tell about it. Not a joke.

    The Anatoli Bugorski incident.

    See https://youtu.be/RH5wJPKYNI0

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      KP

      That’s a solid site OldOzzie! Some fascinating stuff there-

      “Talking to HVAC Mechanical contractor today tells me 48mth wait quote now on certain components.”

      “477 bulk cargo ships waiting to deliver resources to China”

      “Welding contractor told me he ordered sheets of stainless steel $2500 in Dec., quote for same 2 wks ago; $7300 for same”

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    Dennis

    Save the planet, choose an EV for Outback travelling

    /sarc.

    ““At the Stuarts Well Roadhouse south of Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway, owner Peter ‘Spud’ Murphy told the ABC that he installed a small three-phase power point there a few years ago because he believed it was ‘the way of the future’.

    However, at Stuarts Well, it would take EV users about five hours to get 400 kilometres of driving range, a time frame few travellers would be willing to put up with. The fastest chargers in big cities can give the equivalent charge in about 20 minutes.

    The roadhouse, like most remote service stations, currently creates its own power using diesel generators”.

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    OldOzzie

    What the Fake Gulf War Atrocity Allegations Can Teach Us About Ukraine

    Americans should reflexively distrust every claim about “Putin’s war crimes.”

    Still, Trump and his supporters have plenty of reason to be skeptical of claims that the Russians are committing atrocities. We Americans have a long and proud tradition of being lied into war with false and lurid claims of war crimes abroad. We would do well to develop a healthy sense of distrust for anything about which the media, White House, and both parties are in agreement—especially when it comes to American intervention abroad.

    Most Americans, at this point, know that the 2003 war in Iraq was based on the lie that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and intended to use them. The infamous image of Colin Powell holding up a vial of white powder before the United Nations is proof positive of the willful deception engaged in by the Bush Administration to push us into war.

    Less well known is that the first Gulf War was also based on a lie.

    Unpacking the precise nature of that lie is instructive for our contemporary situation.

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    OldOzzie

    China Is in Charge of the COVID Coverup

    Legal agreement allows Wuhan to destroy documents at a University of Texas lab funded by Anthony Fauci’s NIAID.

    A 2017 memorandum of understanding between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston gives the Chinese government-owned biological research lab the right to demand the U.S. taxpayer-funded facility destroy documents, a new report reveals.

    According to the MOU: “All cooperation and exchanges documents, data, details and materials shall be treated as confidential by the parties. . . The confidentiality obligation shall be obligatory through the duration of this MoU and after it has been terminated. The party is entitled to ask the other to destroy and/or return the secret files materials without any backups.” (emphasis added).

    The document was signed by UTMB investigator James W. LeDuc, WIV coordinator Zhiming Yuan, and UTMB senior vice president and general counsel Carolee A. King, an expert in “health care and regulatory law, hospital compliance, fraud and abuse, medical liability, physician practice and clinical research.”

    U.S. Right to Know, which obtained the memorandum, headlined its story “Wuhan lab can delete data in ‘explosive’ legal agreement with U.S. lab.”

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    OldOzzie

    Our Spanish Civil War?

    Deep and brutal strife in 1930s Spain was a prelude to the barbarity of World War II. Now with the war in Ukraine, we’re reminded that the veneer of civilization is very thin.

    From 1936 to 1939, the civil war in Spain became a European laboratory of new tactics, strategies, logistics, wartime morality, and weapons. Right-wing nationalists under General Francisco Franco finally defeated loyal supporters of an evolutionary socialist republic—but only after much of the Western world had variously weighed in.

    The cost to the Spanish people of such brutal and vicious strife was horrific. Over 500,000 Spaniards would die in a little over two-and-a-half years. The country was left in shambles.

    Whether by design or by accident, Spain became a proving ground for many of the strategies, weapons, and tactics that would follow later in World War II. And it would be a preview of just how impotent democracies and international bodies were to stop aggressive powers.

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    another ian

    “Comrades, Another Coded Message Transmitted from the Rebel Alliance, Intellectual Froglegs Spring Edition
    April 25, 2022 | Sundance | 2 Comments”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/25/comrades-another-coded-message-transmitted-from-the-rebel-alliance-intellectual-froglegs-spring-edition/

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    another ian

    “Did We **** Up (Again)?”

    “J&J’s Covid-19 vaccine is based on an adenovirus “modified” to be non-replication competent — that is, unable to reproduce in the human body. The AstraZeneca jab widely used in England is similar, using a chimpanzee adenovirus that is allegedly harmless in humans.”

    More at

    https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=245723

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      I remember to have read and posted here about two papers from 2006 and 2007, that in gentherapeutic use, adeno virus is known to produce clots in liver and brain venes.

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    another ian

    Anyone braved the move from Windows 10 to 11?

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      David Maddison

      No.

      Also, not all systems can migrate to Win 11. They need a special chip, and if the chip is present, it also needs to be activated via BIOS settings.

      I am sick of being given more and more “features” I don’t want or need.

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      Graeme#4

      Yep. First backed up everything, screenshots of my main app setups, etc. Was totally painless and very fast, compared to previous major updates. And it did a VERY good job of restoring my standard setups.
      Well, mostly. Only issue was a link to Dropbox, and found the answer to that yesterday.
      Think it did help that I was upgrading on a computer that’s only a few months old.

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      Grogery

      Didn’t even “brave the move” from W7 onwards.

      In fact, I’m now using Ubuntu and just fire up a VM with a copy of my old windoze 7 hard disk if there’s some old software I need to run that won’t on linux.

      Linux based disto’s and open source software are the way forward in my opinion. I use as little micro$oft as possible.

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      OldOzzie

      Still on XP on Netbook

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        KP

        Don’t change!

        W10 is crap, gigantic, non-understandable, bloated with rubbish you don’t want and impossible to configure the way you want it.

        Like trading in your 30year-old car on a new one!

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          Grogery

          Apart from “bloat”, micro$oft is tracking you.

          I have tested a fresh install of w10 and done a wireshark (packet) trace on the internet connection to witness significant traffic (without any user intervention).

          People have no idea what is being sent out via the internet from their windoze computer. And if you can manage to disable most of it, usually a micro$oft “update” will reinstate the tracking software.

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          Graeme#4

          Not when you need to get on with business-related tasks. Time is money and I need a fast computer that can keep up and not slow me down. And yes, I regularly battle with Linux as well.

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        Hanrahan

        If I had lived in a cave for 15 years with a good memory, MacOS would still be 90% familiar.

        My Mini has no cooling but even in a tropical summer doesn’t even get warm so it is pretty efficient.

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    OldOzzie

    Just to cheer Sydneysiders up

    Six MONTHS to go: Australia’s unprecedented La Nina to continue until at least OCTOBER – making it the wettest year EVER
    . The country is likely to experience the wettest period since 1974, forecast said
    . Bureau of Meteorology predicted rain will ease, but US forecast said otherwise
    . More heavy rain is predicted for SA, NSW, Victoria and Queensland from Sunday

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    OldOzzie

    Great F1 weekend in Italy – Go Max

    also enjoying new female commentator on Sky Sports – Articulate, Knowledgeable, Excellent Diction and a joy to listen to – Great Race

    Naomi Schiff

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    yarpos

    Thanks to those that came before me, for what I have and what I have been able to experience and for what I have not had to endure.

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      Hanrahan

      I have never bought lottery tickets. When asked I say that I have already won: I was born in Australia.

      Too young to remember the WAR but I read about it enough to be anti-war.
      Modern dentistry, sterile surgery and penicillin were invented.
      Too young still for Korea.
      Jobs were plentiful, I am unaware if the dole even existed.
      Too old for ‘Nam although I was already serving.
      Best music.

      All downhill since but it will hold together long enough for me to exit stage left.

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    another ian

    “Carbon Collect Unveils Mechanicaltree™ In Partnership With Arizona State University”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/24/carbon-collect-unveils-mechanicaltree-in-partnership-with-arizona-state-university/

    And comments

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    another ian

    “Earth Day’s Failed Predictions Of 52 Years Ago & The Amazing Environmental Improvements That Have Occurred Since”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/24/earth-days-failed-predictions-of-52-years-ago-the-amazing-environmental-improvements-that-have-occurred-since/

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    Graeme No.3

    Can I be O/t on the O/T?

    All things come to those who stand and wait esp. rain, lightning strikes,aggresive bulls and charity collectors. Lesser threads are the black death, Covid19 and politicians seeking reelection (thinking that being immobile indicates lack of cognitive ability).
    At the local Supermarket this P/M I casually looked at the CSR Golden Syrup and found, to my surprise, that it was acrually golden in colour. I had avoided the product for the past 51 years since I was the “bunny” who set the droptime batches of Golden Syrup. All I had to do was check the Refractive Index at tell the Sugar Boiler when to ‘drop’ the kettle full. No problem? All one had to do was manipulate the sampling device and read the R.I. This involved juggling 4 valves to extract a sample, read the R.I. and apply the ‘correction factor’ (which would be available 24 hours afterwards) as the R.I. changed rapidly Once you had guessed the timing you had about a minute to suck in the 15Litres of concentrated hydrochloric acid and about 4 Fluid Ounces of Lemon Concentrate. Then go down 2 flights of steps to collect the final sample for analysis (elbowing the factory workers who were collecting a sample for personal tasting – that lemon essence made it almost irresistible).
    I managed to ‘drop’ 6 batches which met all requirements except the colour which we had to fake as the stuff we were making was too light in colour (almost the same as the original Tate & Lyell brand). Their special. was around 6 -8 and we were making about 10-11 in colour. The CSR spec. was a minimum of 15, and a maximum of 35 (think about the colour of road tar).

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      Graeme No.3

      As I was saying…
      Somehow the Head Office were alerted to the low colour and wer upset: they regarded Golden Syrup as a waste product which they could get some money for, and damn what the customer wanted. An official reprimand to the Factory Manager, who passed it downwards was sent.
      51 years later they, or their successors, have changed their minds. Who knows how long it will take our politicians and bureaucrats to change their ‘minds’ about the coming disaster of “renewables”?

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        Neil+Crafter

        I too have noticed that the Golden Syrup changed recently to be lighter in colour and less viscous. Personally I preferred how it was, darker and richer.

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      MrGrimNasty

      Lyle’s black treacle was like road tar.
      It only came out the larder once a year to make parkin for bonfire night.
      Licking the golden syrup spoon was heaven, licking the black treacle was instant regret!
      Ah the 1970s.

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        Graeme No.3

        Raw sugar comes into the refinery and is ‘washed’ to separate the higher purity crystals from the syrup which gives it good storage life. Traditionally a refinery was separated into a White side and a Black side but I suppose those terms aren’t allowed anymore.

        Golden syrup is the end of the White line. The sugar crystals are dissolved, decolourised and then partially evaporated under vacuum and the low colour crystals separated (by centrifuge) dried, separated by size and packed. The remaining syrup (after 2 or 3 goes at getting as much white sugar out as possible) is treated to convert some of the sucrose into glucose & fructose (as much like bees put out as honey) evaporated to a suitable composition, further decolourised then evaporated to a higher enough total sugar level for long shelf life. (as noted opinions differ on suitable colour)

        Treacle is what is left in the sugar refinery which you can’t get any more sugar (even dark brown sugar) out of it, so they pack it off and sell it. (NOTE Treacle in the USA refers (or did) to molasses). It was made from raw sugar washings, evaporated and dark brown sugar extracted and what was left over was treacle. (and don’t ask where floor washings went).

        Nobody in the refinery regarded treacle as edible and brown sugar wasn’t that popular either. Molasses went to the rum distillery and was regarded as poisonous.
        It used to amuse those in the know that raw sugar was packed in 40 lb. hessian sacks and delivered to Health Stores who repacked it into 2 & 4 lb. bags at triple the price per pound. It was delivered onto the concrete warehouse floor and when scooped up by a Caterpillar into either the process or (for raw sugar sales) into a shaker conveyor where the top screen separated out the large (concrete like) lumps, dead pigeons and rats, and the ‘fine’ screen removed their faeces.
        When CSR realised that there was a rising demand for “Raw Sugar” they built a small plant wherein the sugar was handled in stainless steel equipment (regularly steam cleaned), steamed and packed in plastic. There were lots of complaints about “the loss of flavour”. I have occasionally wondered whether those who believed that the original raw sugar was good, were also those who believe that Global Warming is occurring.

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    PeterS

    Looks like riots are already breaking out in France. Not surprised really. Peaceful protests have been proven to be useless as governments keep ignoring them as if they didn’t happen so the next recourse for some is violence. Not good but clearly inevitable as the populace start losing their patience.
    Major Riots Against Macron Throughout France Over Questionable Election

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    https://dailyexpose.uk/2022/04/25/triple-vaccinated-5x-more-likely-infected-with-covid-than-unvaccinated/
    Triple Vaccinated now up to 5 times more likely to be infected with Covid-19 than the Unvaccinated as Vaccine Effectiveness falls to MINUS-391%

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d4_wzvzTP4
    10K New Pfizer Docs Reveals FDA Knew Natural Immunity Works, Vaccine Fertility Effects UNKNOWN (Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov)

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    another ian

    “Elon Musk Successful Deal to Purchase Twitter for $44 Billion Likely to be Announced After Stock Market Close at 4pm Today
    April 25, 2022 | sundance | 426 Comments”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/25/elon-musk-successful-deal-to-purchase-twitter-for-44-billion-likely-to-be-announced-after-stock-market-close-at-4pm-today/

    10

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    another ian

    “American “Climate Refugees”? ”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/25/american-climate-refugees/

    The “behind” is here in case you get fed the headline

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    another ian

    Anthony Watts et al

    “Climate at a Glance is Available for Purchase Today on Amazon. It has already jumped to the top of many book categories for “new releases.” It is now the #1 new release in Climatology.”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/25/my-new-book-soaring-on-amazon-get-your-copy-now/

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    another ian

    Chiefio on “virus warpage”

    https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2022/04/12/florida-first-w-o-o-d-12-april-2022/#comment-156266

    And some on Windows 10 / 11 and following comments

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    another ian

    “Who can you trust?”

    Note the mask pore size diagram

    https://newcatallaxy.blog/2022/04/26/who-can-you-trust/

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    another ian

    “IPCC AR6 Working Group 1 report:
    conclusions on the evolving risk of drought
    A special briefing by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes”

    https://climateextremes.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IPCC-evolving-risk-of-drought-briefing-note.pdf

    10