JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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New German leader finally gets approved.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/those-pesky-voters-wont-do-as-theyre-told/
“far right” opposition party now the most popular but likely to be closed down. In holland, France and now Germany, the mainstream leftist parties have managed to keep the right out by describing them as far right and refusing to let them into government.
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That will be a long way and they won’t hit their target.
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The Left regard anyone to the right of Pol Pot as “far right”. They are such bores and boors. The Thinking Community no longer takes them seriously, not that they ever really did. But now they are not allowing Leftist bullying to silence them.
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Met office lose hundreds of back up stations that are supposed to replicate the weather data of stations that don’t exist
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2025/05/12/the-met-offices-dog-ate-their-homework/#comments
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Major power outages hits London underground
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14703481/major-tube-chaos-outage-London.html
We were passing through there this time last week to travel on the Eurostar.yesterday stansted airport had a major power outage that disrupted the flights for 10000 people. As we know Spain was completely blacked out last week.
We have built an immensely complicated world with too little reliable energyand too much reliance on digital systems, the Internet and AI. Any determined cyber savvy enemy could surely bring down the house of cards that is the over complex virtue signalling net zero fixated western world
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Sounds like they need more windmills and solar panels.
Or maybe they need to accelerate those sun-dimming experiments.
/sarc
Politicians shouldn’t be alllowed to make engineering decisions.
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“Politicians shouldn’t be allowed to make engineering decisions.”
Yes, absolutely.
But – do the pollies, at least in the UK – I am not familiar with the Australian variety, save by [unsavoury] report! – realise that they are making engineering, practical, physical decisions?
Or, merely, political ones?
‘We need’green power’, Greta told me. This has no local engine, so it’s green. Huzzah! Vote for me again!’
I don’t think I exaggerate, in the UK, at least.
https://davidturver.substack.com/p/desnz-net-zero-competence
Also covered here and at https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com and perhaps elsewhere.
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Comment in The Australian on – Power plant owner 7GI calls for reality check on retirement of coal
Peter
1 hour ago
Enough, Power Generation AND delivery has six essential parts.
PV and Wind only provide one of these parts, and is not reliable.
PV and Wind only provide power generation. Voltage Control, Frequency Control, Phase Control, and synchronisation are governed by high inertia, large scale, equipment.
PV and Wind can’t do this.
In fact, they need “the system” from them to work in the delivery.
The last element, flexibly.
Power demand fluctuates dramatically, when you turn a hot water kettle on, that 2.4kW has to be available immediately, not in 5 seconds time.
The grid can withstand these fluctuations because there is a large power generation inertia (coal and gas), providing this function.
Happy to be told that the COST GEN report says renewables are the cheapest form of generation.
But who cares, the report WE must ask for is the COST DEL report.
The total cost of power generation and delivery.
This is not selective with the facts, and shows the total cost of power delivered.
As they said going to the moon, “You have to pack everything, because once you blast off, you can’t come back and get it”.
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The story goes that there was a predictable power surge in England just before Coronation Street came on TV, as people boiled the jug for a cuppa as they settled.
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Here’s a good summary of the London Underground power failure and also the simultaneous 25C (77F) “heatwave” scary stories from the UK. Some of the scary story headlines are bizarre.
https://www.youtube.com/live/geExE-mlr98
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We have had exceptional spring weather, very sunny and dry and very warm. The CET maximum temperature average is running at a record in the 360ish year long series. Maximum temperatures for April were +4.7C, quite remarkable. I’ve got a plague of aphids and green weevils in my garden, never seen anything like it, the weevils have eaten as much of my garden as the flipping wood pigeons that are as fat as a football. I’m so tanned I could pass as an English channel illegal. But it certainly isn’t hot enough to need a warning!
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Certainly not been that hot here on the south coast of Devon. 15degrees C today. Supposed to be around 20c this coming week.
The aphids are terrible and the trouble is that the ants are farming them for their juice.
Much worse last year with untold numbers of snails , due to the constant rain, which chewed through all our plants.
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On May 13th 2025 Earth is 16,000km closer to the sun than it was last year. The Northern Hemisphere heating season from April through to June inclusive has 0.83W/m^2 more solar EMR this year than last year so you would expect it to be warmer now.
On the flip side, the NH cooling season will be down 0.99W/m^2 on last year. That will ensure a wetter, snowier September through to December. 2025 will see a lot more snowfall records broken.
Compared with 1852, 2025 gets 1.75W/m^2 more solar EMR during the heating season and is down 1.75W./m^2 during the cooling season. England will experience wetter winters and Scotland snowier winters for a long time.
2025 has close to the highest heating season solar EMR to 2040. 2033 will be on par with 2025. The NH heating season solar EMR has been trending upward since 1700. On May 13th 1700 Earth was 179,000km further away from the Sun than May 13th 2025.
To understand the warming trend in the UK, you need look no further than the Sun. If you could remember back to 1700, you would even notice how much larger the Sun looms in the sky in May now than it did then. So NH is now into 325 years more sunshine in the heating season. Just 9000 years to go. But it is the cooling season that causes the sea level to decline.
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25 C a Heatwave?
I keep my home at 24 C. . .
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If do not mind a private question, Ed – how old are you?
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I was reading about that Heatwave™ this morning. It was 26 deg here and I wasn’t running my ceiling fan. In fact it’s the same now and the only reason the fan is on is because I haven’t switched it off.
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Message from Senator Babet (Trumpets of Patriots) on Farcebook.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CpPQkNM2Z/
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Senator Babet represents the United Australia Party.
Exactly what the status of the USP is, is incertain. It is currently deregistered but still has a lot of members.
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The UAP is now represented as Trumpets of Patriots. It has something to do with election rules not allowing the name of a deregistered party to be used in the next election even if it is reregistered. Senator Babet states his party affiliation as UAP but also supports Trumpets which is essentially the same party. I do not know the administrative reasons why the UAP was deregistered. I stated his affiliation as Trunpets as the older-named party doesn’t exist any more. As far as I’m aware, UAP members are considered to be Trumpets members.
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It’s a while ago since I heard Palmer comment on the name change so I might be a bit hazy on the exact details. But as I understand it, the gist was that they let the UAP (United Australia Party) registration lapse because with a sitting member it’s a formality to re-register it before the next election. However, Albo changed the rules which either caught them off guard or they were just asleep. So they weren’t able to simply re-register per previous.
The Trumpet of Patriots had their party registered from years ago and, with the registration current, offered it as a party for UAP to adopt.
I don’t know what rules were changed or why the UAP didn’t keep their registration current. But the UAP is now Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.
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Nope. It was totally due to UAP incompetence https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-12/act-clive-palmer-high-court-hearing/104908578
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Yes, they weren’t allowed to re-register before the last election per the law (or “rules” as I said it). Your link doesn’t contradict anything I said.
Now, if your link can show when that law came into effect (it doesn’t) and it was prior to Albo’s term, then what Palmer said about Albo changing the law would be wrong. If it happened last term under Albo then the UAP were asleep because the law would have had to go through Babet as a senator.
I posted last week wondering where you were. Hoped all was well and that your absence was by choice. I think I preferred your absence. 🙂
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Sarah Ferguson and Laura Tingle should be standing with those Labor politicians being sworn in this morning!
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Kerry O’Brien routinely equated the ABC with Labor even apologising for it during an election broadcast somewhere in the dim past when I’d not yet surfeited and become repelled by them.
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… for services rendered!
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Ok. Winners are grinners and losers can suit themselves, but …
Labor received 34.7% of the primary vote. The coalition received 32.1%. That is hardly overwhelming evidence of the nation favouring Labor.
I think the lop sided number of seats won has a lot to do with the disparity between how effectively the parties exploited the preferential voting system.
And yes all of the things the good senator says are true. What is needed is a higher level of thinking and more effective strategies.
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Why is this on Facebook, which, for various reasons, many people won’t use? I’ve noticed an unfortunate trend amongst smaller businesses, such as tradies, to take the easy way out by using Facebook rather than having their own website. I wonder if they have considered whether some potential customers might be passing them by.
You’ve got to wonder who is advising government and business on technology matters. For example, I occasionally receive text messages purported to be community announcements from the police. The messages, all coming from a number that is all 4s, are mostly about missing persons and they include a link to a Facebook page. Well, first up, there is no way on earth that I am going to open a link in a text message, even if it appears to be from someone I know. Secondly, how many people who receive the messages won’t have a Facebook account and therefore won’t be able to read the announcement, if that’s what it is?
Schemes designed to steal our money have become so common, and, in many cases, so sophisticated, that we have to be totally ‘bolshie’ in our online dealings. For example, because of phone number spoofing, I never answer calls from a number that is not in my address book. I used to have a message saying ‘Please leave a message — if you don’t, your call won’t be returned’, but now, I don’t even bother with that. I simply don’t answer the call and instead wait to see if it goes to voicemail. If it doesn’t, but I have a suspicion that it might be a legitimate call, I get on the web and search for the phone number.
Unfortunately, though, many people who haven’t had the benefit of schooling in technology issues fall prey to scams. The only way to end this is to have government step in. If we ever have a conservative government in this country (and I don’t expect to see it in my lifetime) I would like to see them fund a help line that people can call if they are concerned that someone is trying to scam them. Yes, I know, there would be all sorts of problems with it, not least of which would be ballooning demand for the service, but what, after all, is the function of government if not to balance the power in commercial relationships and to protect the vulnerable, because the vulnerable have nowhere else to turn.
Moving along, I saw this article just yesterday:
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has secured a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta (formerly known as Facebook) to stop the company’s practice of capturing and using the personal biometric data of millions of Texans without the authorization required by law.
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-secures-14-billion-settlement-meta-over-its-unauthorized-capture
Once again, if we ever get a conservative government in this country I would like to see them require online companies to provide, in user profiles, a full list of the types of information they will be collecting on the user and the sources from which the data will be collected. Additionally, users should then be able to request a copy of the actual data collected. A conservative government in Australia! Dream on, DD.
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Video:
The YouTube channel Liberal Hivemind looks at some of the latest Trump Derangement Syndrome from the Leftist Lamestream Media in the US.
https://youtu.be/v5YOxldZfh4
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Just imagine if the staggering amount of money thrown away on useless “green” energy was used to progress humanity rather than regress it.
Also, I would like to see an estimate for Australia and other countries at just how much money that it is.
And because the money is essentially, literally, thrown to the wind, it has meant that many productive endeavours never got funded such as schools, hospitals, scientific research, roads etc. both due to a direct waste of taxpayer money plus reduced economic productivity and thus fewer taxes to be collected or money to privately fund such endeavours. The opportunity cost is huge.
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But the recipients of the same taxpayer largesse have money to spare.
I could speculate on their ancestry, habits, pharmacological dependencies, morals and likely demise – and what they do with the money – but I won’t, here!
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This is a real Tweet as it has a tick mark.
Herr Starmer must be terrified of what conservatives are thinking and the huge swing to Reform.
Viva Frei is a conservative and formerly from Montreal but now a political refugee in the United States wrote (and also posted a video clip to prove his point):
But don’t trust Herr Starmer.
Absolutely never, ever trust a Leftist.
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They’ve got absolutely no intention of controlling immigration, he’s about to open the borders to all the young immigrants in the EU, along with the original young ‘natives’.
https://order-order.com/2025/05/12/starmers-eu-deal-opens-uk-to-millions-more-european-migrants/
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Simon of the History Debunked YouTube channel comments on the claim by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper of a reduction in UK immigration. Of course, they have no intention whatsoever.
https://youtu.be/VZyxfPns7uo
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I know some children of friends, one who has done medicine, another who is about to do so
Both went to or go to top private schools in Melbournistan.
Whilst being top students, I have found in both cases a remarkable lack of general knowledge. I think this applies to all students these days, regardless of level of academic achievement.
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Correct David. Questions like ” What is the highest mountain in Australia or Queensland is usually met by a blank stare. Another good one is ” how does your smart phone work “….No idea and no interest….just as long as it can connect to Tik Tok or X is all they care about.
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I recently met a year 11 student who didn’t know why we have seasons, that the earth is tilted on its axis. This was primary school curriculum content way back when.
I didn’t venture to ask if she knew why we have day and night.
Similarly, I worked, in a shipping setting, with a young woman who had done Navy basic training, and then shipping agent training, who insisted that the cardinal points of the compass progressed round the compass rose in a clockwise direction N,S, E, W. She could not be convinced that her understanding was incorrect, even when she was shown on charts and on her favourite information source – google.
That was concerning when you understand she was giving directions to ships in real time.
Again, this was primary school curriculum content when I was a kid.
Whatever is being taught in schools, it doesn’t seem to be helping our youngsters to understand the world they live in. That’s actually not just a tragedy, but a crime.
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Buckley’s chance of convincing them that CO2 doesn’t cause global warming.
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Amazingly accurate eh?
https://youtu.be/zq6E9BJcs0Y?si=ORjN8n3LwXRYPqUN
With no natural predators to thin the herd, evolution began to reward those who bred the most.
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For any Maldivians out there, today, 13th May is Mother’s Day in the Maldives.
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They can’t hear you David,
THEY’RE ALL UNDER WATER –
send donations to…
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South African victims of racial violence are welcomed to the US.
You will recall that in 2018 in Australia, Peter Dutton, fake conservative, denied protection visas for these same people:
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America’s gain, Australia’s lost.
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This comment from Farcebook:
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It’s a blessing he lost his seat then.
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The worst effect of the election is that Bowen is still Minister of Energy.
Blackouts coming.
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With the moderates retaining the Nats leadership, Tim Wilson has decided not to run for the Liberal leadership and instead set his sights on shadow energy minister.
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Has any resident of this blog met Tim face to face?
Can we find out if he ever had a look at it?
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He is our best chance to take on Blackout Bowen and defeat him.
‘During Wilson’s tenure as a policy director at the IPA, the group called for the closing of the Climate Change Authority, the ending of the Renewable Energy Target and defunding of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
‘Despite personally not expressing climate change denial, Wilson has endorsed people’s right to express such views, and was opposed to universities preventing such views from being taught in their institutions. Wilson himself explained that he has an “open mind” regarding the science behind climate change.’ (wiki)
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I do not see any change in direction in Australia without blackouts. Australia needs Blackout Bowen more than ever. The sooner he lives up to his name, the quicker Australia sets a course for sanity.
The insanity in Canberra runs deep. It needs a big shock to initiate change.
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No state or nation has changed policy due to blackouts. Sth Aus certainly didn’t.
“They” just blame coal and carry on as before.
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More irrelevancies from that irrelevant organisation-
“The United Nations’ top aviation authority has formally found Russia responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, marking a landmark ruling in a case brought by Australia and the Netherlands in 2022…Penny Wong welcomed the finding, describing it as “a historic moment in the pursuit of truth, justice and accountability for the victims of the downing of Flight MH17..Australia and the Netherlands have requested that the council order Russia to enter negotiations with them and that it facilitate those talks to ensure they proceed “in good faith and according to specific timelines”.”
Lol! No mention of exactly how and why Russia would do it, or what they expected to gain from it. I suppose its how Courts & the Justice system operates these days.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/russia-found-responsible-for-downing-of-mh17-un-aviation-body-says-20250513-p5lymb.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true
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FWIW
“The Scandal Buried in the Air Force One Story”
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/05/12/the-scandal-buried-in-the-air-force-one-story-n3802692
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As of the latest data available up to March 2025, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Australia has shown a stable trend.
The headline inflation rate for the March quarter of 2025 was 2.4%, which is within the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target range
Another day, another Building & Contents Strata Insurance renewal – this year only 27.85% increase – a neat $1,037.00 Increase
Last year 34%, prior year 29%, so I suppose down a bit
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The CPI is the Corrupted Price Index and does not represent “day to day living Inflation”.
My morning take away cup of coffee has just increased from $4.50 to $5. That’s an increase of 11.11%.
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Just laughable! They lie so forthrightly and expect us to take them seriously. They’re banking (quite correctly) on the average Aussie being pretty thick and won’t think about the figures at all.
My coffee beans, $20/kg for years, suddenly $27, gone up over 30%.
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FWIW – Canada game plan
“Welcome to Carnada”
https://pjmedia.com/david-solway-2/2025/05/12/welcome-to-carnada-n4939701
Note the “real problem”
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FWIW
“Coincidence? Top Two MMR-Vaccinated States Lead In 2025 Measles Cases”
“That raises serious questions about what’s really driving these outbreaks – and whether the mainstream “solution” is making the problem worse.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/coincidence-top-two-mmr-vaccinated-states-lead-2025-measles-cases
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FWIW
“Nobody Wants To Eat Bugs”
“Another Liberal success story. Trudeau’s cricket farm fails. Maybe Carney can force Canadians to eat them.”
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2025/05/12/nobody-wants-to-eat-bugs/
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I love bugs:
https://www.alamy.com/four-cooked-moreton-bay-bugs-thenus-orientalis-also-known-as-bay-lobster-image64691473.html
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FWIW
“Episcopal Church Announces It Violates the Doctrine of their Faith to Help White Refugees
May 12, 2025 | Sundance | 325 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/05/12/episcopal-church-announces-it-violates-the-doctrine-of-their-faith-to-help-white-refugees/
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And the US Presbyterian Church just pulled all overseas missions.
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Sussan Ley elected leader of the Libs.
Maybe this is a clue to what her priorities will be, when she said: “Many Australians, including women and younger Australians, feel neglected.”
Oh dear, here we go again.
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Some trivia in the Herald Sun:
Born in Nigeria to British parents.
Spent time in the UAE and England, family emigrated to Aus when she was 13.
Bachelor of Economics, Master of accounting, and Master of Taxation Law.
Worked as an air traffic controller, pilot, shearer’s cook, wool and beef farmer.
Changed her name from Susan to Sussan after a numerology theory suggested the extra letter meant “nothing would ever be boring”. (Maybe that’s a clue to what her priorities will be)
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If she follows numerology she probably follows climastrology as well…
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pffft! I know their men were useless wimps, but this is just a DIE hire by a desperate Party.. They still won’t win the next election.
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Throughout history, men have been the providers and women the carers.
We need to learn the lessons of history and to act accordingly.
It is a shame that the Australian Liberal party has chosen a female leader at the very time when a mass of other women, be they Teals or Greens or Labor, are causing poor and destructive laws, regulations and policies.
Maybe, by a stroke of luck, a female Lib leader will have inside knowledge on how to minimise the harm being done by other political women.
Right now, Australia needs parties with leadership in blokey matters like increasing national wealth by having a stronger military, by having more men in productive jobs like building new houses to combat the shortage and more men with long experience in the proper management of electricity supply without the girly-type emotion of net zero.
I am not a woman hater, quite the opposite, but I am concerned that demanding tasks in society are done by the people best qualified. I have the same reservations about men who would be women. Sometimes a country requires a strong dose of reality to replace limp-wristed girlie emotional stuff.
And no, I am not critical of our blog host Jo who has done a far better job than I could.
Vive la difference!
Geoff S
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Well said Geoff S.
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I have been banging on about national work productivity. Just now I received this article that explains with numbers some of the main the reasons for my concerns.
It is an easy read with a serious message.
Geoff S
Graham Pinn from Regulatory Review
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No link?
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FWIW – latest Kustler
“MAHA Hugger Mugger
“Those who perpetrated the greatest ruse in American presidential history by staging the Biden presidency will never tell us what their ultimate agenda was” — Victor Davis Hanson”
https://www.kunstler.com/p/maha-hugger-mugger
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Has Trump just forced big pharma to double our drug prices?
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Louis Rossman goes Scorched Earth on another tech manufacturer in Qld
https://youtu.be/qFe5LiACN9k?si=5spvrXIAuVnVhM3R
It’s amazing the sheer amount of disrespect shown to customers. Some people really should NEVER be in business.
Site down now, along with everything else. 😆
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Over 80% of gen-Z would marry an AI over a human
Eighty-three percent of the young people, born between 1997 and 2012, said they could develop a meaningful connection with a chatbot, while 80% said they would even consider marrying one — if it was legal, according to a poll of the most digitally native age group.
https://nypost.com/2025/05/10/us-news/shocking-majority-of-gen-zers-would-marry-ai-if-it-was-legal-poll/
Hunching over a phone for 20 hours a day, wasting time on Fakebook et al, doesn’t help develop people skills.
And Schwab rubs his hands together.
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The following reading is just for interest, quite optional.
Elsewhere I commented about my past mineral exploration being interesting and exciting and adding to national wealth. Here is an example.
Our team of exploration geoscientists back in the golden years of the 1970s to 1990s varied in number but was around 75 graduates in the good times, mostly geologists in the field. Other companies nick-named us Geopeko University. Field staff were encouraged to look for and investigate strange rocks, but sometimes it takes more than the trained eye to find the unusual.
So, I set up a cheap X-ray fluorescence spectrometer in our head office. It added some geochemistry info to any strange rocks the geos sent in. One day, up popped on the screen some high values of Zirconium, Niobium and Tantalum, with elevated rare earths as well. This was in the late 1980s and global demand for these was about to take off, but we did not know that and we on-sold the rights to this Toongi deposit near Dubbo NSW to another group.
Internet search shows estimated Proved reserves – 8.07 Mt @ 1.91% ZrO2, 0.46% Nb2O5, 0.03% Ta2O5, 0.04% HfO2, 0.14% Y2O3, 0.75% other REO. Chances are good that this will be mined one day.
Geoff S
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