JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
Fine analysis of the UNFCCC withdrawal by Marlo Lewis:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/24/trump-withdraws-from-un-framework-convention-ends-illusion-well-always-have-paris/
121
Just found an ‘age-restricted content’ corner of substack – a post discussing the Amelia meme phenomenon https://rudolphrigger.substack.com/p/ameliorating-the-uk
(in case you are not age verified like me – this is the Amelia meme – a character in a government ‘avoid the far right’ guide from Prevent in the UK had a massive backfire and went viral ‘for all the wrong reasons’ – a cartoon Streisand if you will) https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/culture_society/progressive-anti-far-right-game-backfires-antagonist-amelia-viral-meme/
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I just did a DuckDuckGo search for images of Amelia meme. I, in the USA, had not encountered this cute little purple girl.
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Thank you.
Loved the video meme created by one of their friendly AIs.
Would that be classed as hate speech in Australia?
100
What constitutes “hate speech” under the new censorship laws is so open-ended that it can mean just about anything.
The new laws are virtually unlimited in scope.
It is very bad law and it will be interesting to see how it is misused in the Left’s war against free speech.
There were already adequate laws against hate speech and inciting violence.
The new laws will actually prevent discussion of the terrorist ideology that led to the Bondi terrorist attack and similar ones.
I think these laws will stifle free speech, even “permissible” speech (because one can never be sure if what they say will get them five years in jail) are one of the worst things that have ever happened to Australia.
210
Your comment saying that you are offended by something, offends me
Is that argument circular enough?
90
Ever heard the phrase “lawyers write the laws so they can make a living interpreting them”?
100
There are lots of Amelia meme songs on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=amelia+meme+song
40
That’s good. My favourite satirical song heard this week is this one- The Bowen Song. Sung in a country style, the lyrics are on point. (Scroll down to see the audio file).
https://2sm.com.au/shows/chris-smith/
40
Interesting- I don’t need age verification to see it, yet I keep my internet sign-ups and profile as non-existent as possible. I certainly wouldn’t have signed up to any age-verification thingy. It must be geo-centered on some countries.
20
When you say age-restricted content can you give us a link to the actual verbotten material?
The link you gave even has a comment below it saying that it was deemed age restricted content but he didn’t comply.
Perhaps one of those interminable cookie requests has put something on my computer which marks me as harmless.
Who knows without details?
00
Avoid the far right?
It’s been the LEFT throughout history that’s been the problem!
/and still is.
150
Another way to look at it is a circle rather than a line. Go too far one way and you end up at the other.
Put another way, the only way from the South Pole is North.
70
Video:
Matt Walsh looks at the latest Star Trek series.
It has been woke for a long time but now it’s extremely woke and has no standards whatsoever and is totally ruined.
William Shatner also agrees.
Another franchise destroyed by the Left.
https://youtu.be/pXH-ih_Msbk
170
Fortunately it was cancelled after just two episodes.
Season 1 was already finished filming but fortunately there will be no more.
Get woke, go broke!
https://youtu.be/UqpQETm8j7Y
121
Hollyweird keeps doing it.
Over and over again.
Ruining franchises and making woke movies that no one wants to watch.
And losing millions or billions.
180
“Losing” or “redistributing” millions??
As they say in the classics: (The original 60’s version of Mel-Brooks “The Producers”)
“It’s a success!
We’re ruined!”.
80
Does anyone go the the cinema these days?
I refuse to pay good money to potentially watch garbage.
The last movie I watched at the theatre was Saving Private Ryan.
After all the hype I was pretty disappointed.
Hacksaw Ridge was a far superior movie which I saw on telly afew years after its release.
50
I suspect the financial failure of most woke movies and series isn’t a problem for the studios, because they undoubtedly receive funding for what is clearly propaganda from ‘other sources’. This trash doesn’t have to make money. It doesn’t even have to run to the end of the series. The aim is to force this woke garbage into the news cycle and that has been achieved.
90
Production time is very long from inception to release. They have had the sense to drop/curtail some material. Hopefully we are seeing an end to it as a general theme.
Much of the movie business has exited Hollywood , hopefully this helps bring sanity and actual entertainment.
20
I’ve seen the first 3 episodes of SFA (Star Fleet Academy).
SFA, where 90210, the teenager melodrama tv slop from years ago, meets sci-fi.😁
Unfortunately sci-fi takes a back seat with a Picard double facepalm in this new series.
Even a charismatic cynical hologram can’t save it.
Like Star Wars, endless spinoffs, none remotely as good as the originals.
Best to let the franchise die with the audience having good memories of it…
Never mind, real entertainment is out there, coming soon.
40
“Race: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Revisionise. Its five-year mission: to create strange new worlds; to fabricate new life and ruin civilizations; to boldly go where no man/woman/non binary person has gone before!“
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I couldn’t help but reimagine some iconic Star Trek scenarios.
KIRK: Scotty, we need more power supplied to the gender fluidity awareness generator.
SCOTT: l’m givin’ her all she’s got Captain!
KIRK: The generator does not identify as he or she Scotty.
SCOTT: Im so sorry Captain, I’ll report to HR after we avert the crisis.
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William Shatner, at 93, is far more entertaining than the current successors. He’s X-ing away doing funny and comprehensive posts and is well worth following.
30
Leftist “science”, in particular “anthropogenic global warming” and covid “science” is based on the anti-scientofic notion of “consensus science” and “The Science(TM)”. The idea that a supposed majority opinion, regardless of political motivations, is always right.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Scientific truth is decided by fact, not being bullied into a putative consensus opinion.
Examples where scientific consensus has been proven wrong is Big Bang theory vs static universe (a concept still believed in by wamists today who think climate never changes), epigenetics, plate tectonics:, helicobacter pylori and ulcers, quasicrystals and the Missoula floods at the end of the last glaciation of North America.
Anyway, related to that, there’s interesting real scientific research demonstrating that people frequently display overconfidence in the correctness of their wrong answers.
Video:
https://youtu.be/9M_QK4stCJU
0:00 The Most Dangerous Cognitive Bias
3:01 How confident are you that you are right?
7:40 Why are people overconfident?
8:53 The Real Dunning-Kruger Effect Graph
10:22 How Your Brain Takes Shortcuts
14:02 How overconfidence is good for you
15:55 Nick Leeson Rogue Trader
17:17 The Importance of Feedback
18:45 How One of England’s Oldest Banks Collapsed
20:41 How To Correct Overconfidence
180
Poor Dave, still attacking consensus as some sort of woke, leftist ( ie, Fascist ) ideology.
A consensus is achieved exactly because of the facts, eg evolution. Knowledge is continually growing, a generally held view (consensus) may be discarded by new discoveries, that’s the scientific method , as per Dave’s examples.
So, here we are, still waiting for the sceptics to provide some ‘facts’.
234
First, ‘the consensus’ is largely a fiction.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/05/01/the-in-depth-story-behind-the-97-of-scientists-climate-fraud/
Second, science is not done by ‘consensus’. The entire point of science is to make it possible for one scientist to be able to disprove the existing ‘consensus’, even if that consensus is held by 97% of other scientists. Consensus is a political concept, not a scientific one. Science done by consensus is not science, it’s politics.
230
Wuwt is your authority over all the world’s major scientific bodies ?.
Consensus is in any scientific definition, you’re politicizing it because you don’t have the evidence.
118
‘ … you don’t have the evidence.’
Yes we do, but are you willing to discuss the science.
I argue that blocking high pressure is a global cooling signal, prove me wrong.
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You really need to read Thomas Kuhn’s book: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions
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No, that’s NOT the scientific method, as clearly explained by Feynman. You don’t seem to have any knowledge of what Feynman has said about this subject.
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It’s not fact/ experiment based ??. Please read him further.
He, and all scientists, uphold the scientific method.
This is why you’re stuck here in alternative science world.
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Missed the point. You linked consensus and the scientific method. You are correct in that Feynman is perhaps the best reference for scientific method. But Feynman also clearly does NOT believe in scientific consensus, and is on record for saying this. Two examples of what he said were quoted on this site a couple of days ago. It seems that many commentators on this site clearly understand what Feynman was saying, while you seem to be saying something different.
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Read him further on conciliation, reproducibility, experimentation .
After this process a consensus may emerge.
010
So go right ahead and reproduce the finding that the global average temp. is controlled by atmospheric CO2.
We’ll wait.
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The scientific literature is vast. Th effect of “greenhouse gases’ on the climate was detailed in the 1800’s and confirmed experimentally in the 1900’s. Accurate global climate models were possible by 1985, and we have moved on since then.
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Ponzi, Let’s assume that consensus is all that is required for something to be true.
Can you identify the consensus that exists for AGW?
We know there are claims that 97% of scientists agree.
We now there are claims that 99.9% of peer reviewed papers support AGW.
97% consensus debunked
https://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/2016/12/14/fact-checking-the-97-consensus-on-anthropogenic-climate-change/
99.9% consensus debunked
https://www.mdpi.com/2541118
and
https://www.joannenova.com.au/2023/12/new-study-of-consensus-entrails-shows-67-of-papers-dont-accept-man-made-climate-catastrophe/
What is the consensus you claim and what it the evidence for such a claim?
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‘ … and we have moved on since then.’
Atmospheric CO2 was a laboratory experiment and never mentioned until global warming began in 1976. Up until that time global cooling was all the rage.
Why was Australia warm and wet for 600 years during the European Dark Ages?
60
‘The effect of “greenhouse gases’ on the climate was detailed in the 1800’s … ‘
Do you have a link for that detail?
In the meantime …
‘ … our new analysis of the climate record contained within Antarctic ice cores suggests that the fall in atmospheric CO₂ levels during the cold period from 1500 to 1750 was driven by increased net uptake of carbon by plants.’ (Melbourne University)
00
Yes Simon, we know. Fourier proposed that the atmosphere was like a hot house and let the light rays in but stopped the dark rays from getting out. John Tyndall, Dec 31, 1863 “I have already placed before the Royal Society an account of some experiments which brought to light the remarkable fact that the body of our atmosphere, that is to say the mixture of oxygen and nitrogen of which it is composed, is a comparative vacuum to the calorific rays, its main absorbent constituent being the aqueous vapor, which it contains. It is very important that the minds of meteorologists should be set at rest on this subject—that they should be able to apply, without misgiving, this newly revealed physical property of aqueous vapor; for it is certain to have numerous and important applications.” So the greenhouse effect is due to water vapour according to Tyndall. Carbon dioxide doesn’t rate a mention. Poulliet and Langley stated that “The temperature of the Earth under direct sunshine, even though our atmosphere were present as now, would probably fall to -200 c if the atmosphere did not posses the quality of selective absorption.” Really accurate science from the 1800’s. Langley then showed that the temperature of the full moon, “with no sensible heat absorbing atmosphere, was 45c.” So according to your 1800’s science, the moon, with no atmosphere at all, is hotter than Earth. Now I think that this could easily be described as “complete bollocks”.
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Fifty, or 500, wrong people agreeing on something doesn’t make that thing correct.
Genuine science is not about “consensus”.
But I suspect you already know that.
Einstein is credited with knowing that it would take only one person proving him wrong – to actually prove him wrong.
210
Yes, it’s obvious day at camp stupid.
The consensus exists Because of the facts, when new facts emerge the consensus adjusts.
You should follow Einstein and provide some evidence .
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Amusing how many scientists believe in a god. Blind faith at work.
No proof whatsoever needed or even sought.
Consensus irrelevant.
Once upon a time all the “learned men” had a consensus about the Earth being the center of the universe. Science or hubris?
Here’s a cardboard box for the “men can have babies” consensus squad to use for the fetus. 😆
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Very few do
06
‘The consensus exists Because of the facts …’
Watch your language.
The consensus on global warming began after the Great Climate Shift of 1976.
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Facts, by definition, cannot change. Interpretation of the facts is what’s in play.
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‘Consensus’, all my mates are nodding.
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Be a better bot.
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Bit of a nasty bot- describing the site as camp stupid. Name calling next?
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Normal lefty traits. BAU
00
“So, here we are, still waiting for the sceptics to provide some ‘facts’.”
What facts need explaining? That CO2 is not causing the global warming we see? That the sun controls the climate? Its all explained on here often enough.
Do you not believe that the global warming hysteria is political, not scientific? That some scientists are happy to jump on the political bandwagon and twist science to make sure they get paid?
Evolution is not a good example to hang your hat on, its all discoveries that are explained by conjecture and if that conjecture is assumed correct, the next one is stuck onto it. Like global warming, it builds a pretty edifice, but has no witnesses underlying it and hence no facts.
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Nice of Ponz to provide a classic smug example of what you raised.
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Most people are not opposed to reasonable levels of culturally compatible immigration but the Left’s policy is massive, unlimited levels, way beyond the capacity of any nation to absorb them, hence terrorism, crime and housing crises in such countries e.g. Australia. The expectations of reasonable people is that immigrants will assimilate, obey the law, work, produce and pay taxes.
Then, Leftist parties like Labor or Democrats discovered that they could import their voter base for life, embedding them in key electorates. People who will never assimilate, work or produce. It nearly worked in the United States, it has worked in Australia and UK.
Why don’t we follow China’s policy? No one of the Left would critcise that, just like they won’t criticise their energy policy.
270
Japan similarly rejects immigration. Yet both have declining populations. That is the conundrum. Australia likewise has had a non replacement birth rate. However, I remain unconvinced that a declining birth rate necessarily dooms a nation economically.
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There are plenty of people who would make good immigrants, just not most of the ones we get now.
And it the Left hadn’t so effectively destroyed notions of heterosexual family units, maybe birth rates would be higher.
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Dave, so much for your denial of being homophobic !.
How has the nebulous ‘left’ turned people gay ?.
You’re ticking a lot off the cognitive bias list.
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How is it “homophobic” to support traditional heterosexual relationships which naturally produce children?
You use standard Leftist tactics of ad hominem attacks because you have nothing worthwhile to say, and has been pointed out by others, limited powers of comprehension.
The Left calling people all sorts of their standard insults (such as being ***phobes or “climate deniers”, “racists”, “misogynists” etc.) is no longer going to terrify people into silence and they are so over-used by people who don’t have a clue what they’re talking about, genuine cases of such things will be ignored.
The Left have been and are waging a war against Western Civilisation and it has to stop now. People are sick of your lies and garbage.
Maybe you should go and live in Iran which seems to be the paradise of choice for the Left at the moment. I’m sure you will find their policies of women’s and gay rights agreeable, which obviously they are due to the Left’s silence
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Same sex do have children , please try to keep up. Your homophobia is apparent by your bias towards the trad family.
You continually drone on , calling anything you don’t like ‘left’ or ad hom, stop pearl clutching.
Some evidence for’the left’s war on western civilization’ and support for misogyny and authoritarianism in Iran please ?.
You’ve just about ticked off the whole list .
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That’s not homophobic. But I am against heterophobia.
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Heterophobia, another strawman nobody raised.
Btw, asking for evidence against agw (still crickets) is most worthwhile .
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More of this faux ignorance that a US commentator recently highlighted. As if all the anti AGW havent been on the table for decades. No, you must explain it all ,again, to me because I’m so special.
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Yarp, it may have been on the table, but no real evidence has been presented .
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Go on, explain how with cited examples then.
Ignoring coparenting, adoption, foster care, donor insemination, reciprocal IVF, and surrogacy of course!
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JC
Plenty of hetero couples have children by those means.
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I have decided to come out and now admit to being a same sex bachelor
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“Hello, I’d like a marriage license.”
“In what names?”
“Ponzi.”
“And the other man?”
“That’s all. I want to marry myself.”
“Marry yourself? What do you mean?”
“Well, my psychiatrist says I have a dual personality, so I want to marry the two together.
Maybe I can file a joint income-tax return.”
51
A marital Ponzi scheme…
30
In China the population is “variable”, according to the doctrine of the day.
Allegedly over a Billion, I have recently heard it put at 600 Million and falling. The “One Child Policy’ has been officially rescinded, but it may be a shade late. Aside from the 30+ Million “missing” marriageable young women, the women who survived to adulthood, are less than impressed by the “little emperors” on offer. Many appear to be “fleeing the village” for greener “pastures”. Not too “green”, though; traditional Chinese family values are at odds with the rampant “green” mindset.
Oz, and most of the “west” went full “Zero Population Growth” decades ago. The eco-nazis ran a fairly effective “doom” campaign against live childbirth.
“Nesting” has become almost exclusively “recreational”, as opposed to also being, of NECESSITY, “procreational”.
REAL people are acutely aware that “The future belongs to those who turn up”.
The samd-pirates get this, BIG TIME. With an out-breeding ratio of eight to one in most western countries, their women’s declaration that their, “Wombs are their weapons” is worth noting.
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In China they have singles events where 1000 women pay but men are free but still only 50 men turn up.
If you see the comment starting at about 1:40 from a single woman about what she and they are looking for in a man, you’ll see why.
80
Yep. The wisdom of keeping it zipped up or paying by the hour seems to have spread far and wide.
30
If not for sex, men would have nothing to do with women.
02
‘In China they have singles events …’
Its not only the high price for a bride, the men are just shy and unromantic.
‘Chinese culture, for example, does not have a “romantic love” culture equivalent to the United States. It was considered “bourgeois”, and even outlawed during the Cultural Revolution..
‘The puritanical injunctions have long since been dismantled, however, a shyness remained in the culture, which is not identical to that of the West.’ (wiki)
10
Don’t deflect, answer the question.
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‘I remain unconvinced that a declining birth rate necessarily dooms a nation economically.’
Correct, in an AI world the demographics no longer matter as much.
24
I agree EG, it only dooms the current economic model. The one of ‘freedom to perform business, but only under Govt supervision’, which basically puts Govt 5year plans into action.
A collapse of the welfare state would make a good change, or complete freedom to hire and fire, or a currency that the Govt is not able to inflate, or a Govt that is not allowed to give away money, or a democracy where the people vote for the laws and regulations, or..
Its just a matter of exactly how many people today are moving Australia forward, and what population size that represents. More automation will replace manual labourers, but at the moment we don’t know what to do with them. We had better find out before auto-driving trucks hit the roads, truck driving is one of the biggest careers in modern society.
30
Syrians and Kurds are fighting abroad, so the immigrants are fighting in the UK too. So much for assimilation and multiculturalism.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15494207/Man-stabbed-cars-businesses-trashed-Kurd-Syrian-British-streets.html
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It’s funny how the left in Australia extol the virtues of immigration and multiculturism whilst simultaneously decrying the fact that white people arrived in 1788 to coexist with the existing black population. Calling them invaders. Difficult to reconcile isn’t it?
Why does nobody raise this in our ‘house of democracy’ in Canberra?
50
I migrated here 50 years ago. I am very much in favour of migration, both im and e. It’s really good for people to be able to move around the world and experience living in other countries with other peoples. But I would expect every country to manage its immigration. And that is all that the debate is about. Being anti mass uncontrolled destructive immigration is nothing like being anti immigration.
170
The UK is restricting the sale of firewood. For health reasons of course, with warnings like those for cigarettes (unless they are Chinese presumably, like Australia). Freezing to death when the electricity goes off is still legal however. Mining of coal is illegal.
290
And the US is buried in snow. Russia too.
It’s now been at least 20 years since children would not know what snow was.(In 2000, Dr. David Viner of the University of East Anglia predicted that within a few years, winter snowfall in Britain would become “a very rare and exciting event” and that “children just aren’t going to know what snow is” due to climate change.)
Science is essentially theory supported by verifiable predictions.
In 36 years, self proclaimed Climate Science is unsupported by any valid predictions, but politicians do not care. It is now purely Political Science supported by bans, prohibitions and massive taxes and the United Nations and judges across Western democracies. It is unknown anywhere else. Climate Scientology supported by a vast army of Climatebaggers and Marxist governments which have outlawed any source of power but Chinese windmills and Chinese solar panels.
The only hope for Australia is, like the UK, an actual Conservative coalition. But somehow half the allegedly Conservative politicians are radical leftists who think China is our saviour. What China worked out is that you do not have to nobble the Labor or Green parties who are Marxists anyway. You need control of enough Conservative politicians. Enough to make them unelectable or even if by some amazing chance they are elected, real traitors to their own electorates and their own promises. We could all make a list of alleged conservatives who are nothing of the sort. Starting with Susan Ley. Then Morrison, Turnbull, Patterson and many more. Boris Johnson would be on my list.
310
“The US is buried in snow.”
Not me yet.
That’s tomorrow … Sunday.
But you are correct because it is Sunday in Oz.
But it’s still Saturday here.
However, it is a Sunny day … here this Saturday.
But we are to awake buried in snow … on Sunday.
🙂
No, seriously, wish us luck, because the TV says this may be The End.
But the TV has inspired us so that we die with copious toilet paper and milk*.
*Except for the Unvaccinated.
Because they don’t listen to the TV.
They die with nothing.
200
So for you the climate will change tonight?
60
Like the well suited dead athiest. All dressed up and nowhere to go.
80
Much like the dyslexic atheist on his way to Dog…
20
It’s 3 PM local Texas time, and it’s -7 C in the backyard. There is a mix of ice, sleet, and snow on the ground.
Come back 40 C!
150
If one considers 2 to 3 inches as “buried in” snow, then about half the lower 48 is buried on Saturday afternoon. The concern should focus on Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Tennessee because they are getting more than they know how to handle.
Chicago has very little while Little Rock, 550 miles south has, about 8 inches.
100
West of the Rockies are not buried in snow. But that is how N America winter weather works. If they are having a rough winter east of the Rockies, west of the Rockies usually has a mild winter.
It’s kind of nice actually, because we had a “atmospheric river” earlier that brough snow to the mountains and only rain to the valleys. So, the snow pack is about 95% of normal. But I haven’t had to dig cars out of snow banks, or get up a 4:00 AM to shovel snow.
The last week has been dry and cold. -3 degrees F last night. The nights have been as cold as ever.
People are amazed at little snow this year. They have short memories. I have seen it like this several times.
90
Dave:
that is about minus 20-21 Centigrade.
I wonder how I could trade the next 2 days here (over 40 Centigrade) for some of your climate change.
71
On average you are both experiencing fairly mild weather.
And THAT is how alarmists hide inconvenient facts and promote the ones they like.
50
CINOs. Conservatives in name only. The types who brought down PM Tony Abbott. And made sure Donald Trump achieved very little in his first term. Except that in his second term, he knew them all very well. Often some of his closest advisers, judges, senators. The list is long.
140
Yes. I’m impressed by the number of ducks he got lined up in a row this time around and how he is working around the bad guys while they expose themselves at the same time.
80
bad guys while they expose themselves at the same time.
Is exposing oneself a criminal offense?
Seems that way….
Should be?
10
‘ … you do not have to nobble the Labor or Green parties who are Marxists anyway.’
Simply not true, Labor is a social democratic party, while the Teals and Greens are only environmental splinter groups.
North Korea and Vietnam are communist states, chalk and cheese.
17
Well, if only we had the economic growth of Vietnam, how great Australia would be.. At least theirs is massively positive, not like our negative one. We get the crap Govt AND the crap economy, while Communist countries forge ahead.
50
Material progress is good, but the people are psychologically repressed by a forceful dictatorship.
00
The greens are gone out on the environment these days. Watermelons.
20
They all come from comfortable backgrounds and don’t support Marxism.
00
We are witnessing climate change.
‘A powerful Omega blocking High is parked over the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, acting as a dipole weather pattern with a deep Polar Low digging south from Arctic Canada into the United States to its east.
‘The Polar air mass also results in a major rise in surface high pressure, with a broad 1040-1050 mbar blocking high dominating most of Canada and the US for the following weekend into early next week.’ Severe Weather . Europe)
04
And that is different to previous weather patterns? Never happened before?
Let me guess. Green? Magenta? Beige?
40
Climate change also involves global cooling, Hubert Lamb recognised cyclic change and discovered the MWP.
11
If climate change explains everything then it explains nothing.
Purple?
40
We still have to prove CO2 does not cause global warming, otherwise Ponzi wins.
02
Why, they just assert and theorize. There is nothing but theatre to disprove.
30
Somebody had to deal with the new New York Mayor
sarc
10
Of course, there is no problem burning wood in advanced western countries in proper combustion devices with working flues/chimneys etc..
And yet in the Third World, respiratory diseases from indoor cooking fires in primitive unflued fireplaces inside huts using wood and dung are common because until recently, and perhaps even now, international agencies have refused to back clean cooking with LPG gas (US=propane).
170
respiratory diseases from indoor cooking fires in primitive unflued fireplaces inside huts using wood and dung are common
Consider the availability and pricing differences between (wood/dung) and LPG?
I have friends in village Sri Lanka who continually mention the cost of replacing the LPG cylinder used by their cooking stove
10
I wonder what happened to the Australian design registered solar cooking system created for developing countries?
10
If they’re restricting the sale of firewood then it would logically follow that the burning of biomass in the Drax power station should also be restricted…no?
Of course not!
Burning biomass, (wood pellets imported from Nth America via cargo ships) is green!
No hypocrisy there at all.
Absolute idiocy on steroids.
130
Here in Melbournistan this morning I can smell smoke from the Victoriastan bushfires.
150
Since at least yesterday, the Vic Emergency app has had an Air Quality warning for Geelong, Melbourne Metropolitan, Mornington Peninsula, Phillip Island, and surrounding areas.
Says you will smell smoke from the Otway fires and not to call 000 unless you see fire or a defined column of smoke. 😉
90
I had the bedroom window open overnight in The Dandenongs but l shut it in the early morning hours (the air was cool and smelled strongly of smoke). I thought there was a local fire but the smell of smoke must have travelled from The Otways.
00
Happy Australia Day everyone [or is it tomorrow?]. Next door, over here, we’re still waiting for the climate-weather to ‘change’ into something resembling summer – it is January after all, not July.
Sunday 25 Jan, Southern Alps: Snow to 1,900 metres with gale force sou‘westers, while huge storm swells roll up both coasts of the South Island. Then again, looking at last year’s diary, the ‘climate’ was doing the same thing with snow to 1,500 metres as Mt Cook ‘boiled’ on 14 degrees below freezing.
Tomorrow, Monday, is our Anniversary Day which celebrates Queen Victoria’s Governor Hobson declaring New Zealand a colony of the Crown in 1840. Last year on this date NZ had the Anniversary Day Snowstorm, aka Big Cold Monday, when an ex-tropical low drifted south then dragged up frigid, snowy weather draping the Alps with snow – an exact replica of this year.
Three years ago (2023) we had the Anniversary Day Weekend Floods, when forecast tropical rain overloaded ill-maintained drains and flooded low-lying suburbs built on reclaimed land and in old river valleys which was typically, and cynically, blamed on you-know-what, ie. CCC™️.
Enjoy your freedom, while it lasts.
180
I assume that’s -14C or 7F? Mid summer.
30
FWIW
“Red States Have Reliable Power Because They Embrace an All-of-the-Above Strategy”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/24/red-states-have-reliable-power-because-they-embrace-an-all-of-the-above-strategy/
90
FWIW
“Trump withdraws from UN Framework Convention; ends illusion we’ll always have Paris”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/24/trump-withdraws-from-un-framework-convention-ends-illusion-well-always-have-paris/
100
In contrast the Australian Government signs up to every woke international agreement and organisation they can find, then invokes Section 51(xxix) of the Constitution as a way of implementing extraterritorial governance by the Dark Forces of the UN and associated agencies, not by the people we thought we elected.
190
Yes. It is really hard to imagine what the drafters of the constitution had in mind with that one.
Or in plainer English, what were they thinking?
20
FWIW
“Oh Canada”
“‘Euthanized Against Her Will’ Is a Funny Way to Say the State Murdered Her”
https://pjmedia.com/sarah-anderson/2026/01/24/euthanized-against-her-will-is-a-funny-way-to-say-the-state-murdered-her-n4948705
50
Death by bureaucracy.
Switching off life support when it is the only thing maintaining life is one thing. Making people comfortable as certain death nears is another. But deliberately snuffing out the spark of life is murder.
Such an evil concept.
60
FWIW
“HOW THE LAWYERS KILLED PRACTICAL ADULT EDUCATION:
If you want to learn how machines actually work, go watch a mid-century industrial film. The ones shot in black and white, with the clipped narration and the cutaway diagrams. The ones that assume you can pay attention for twenty minutes, remember a sequence, and behave like an adult around rotating mass and stored energy.
Then compare that to most “training” made today. It is either infantilized entertainment, compliance theater, or vendor marketing in a lab coat. It tells you what to click, not what to understand. It teaches substitution, not diagnosis. It gives you a vibe, not a skill. It is worse than useless because it produces the confident incompetent.
This is not because people got dumber or because cameras got better. It is not because “the culture changed.” It is not because we forgot how to teach.
It is because the legal system made truthful instruction radioactive.
The moment you treat instruction as a liability surface, you stop teaching and start lawyering. That is the whole story. Everything else is downstream.
Read the whole thing.”
Here – https://markatwood.substack.com/p/how-the-lawyers-killed-practical?utm_medium=email
Via https://instapundit.com/771730/#disqus_thread
80
Excellent. Particularly good are educational videos made by the US military around WW2.
Many are still valid today for aspects of fundamental theory e.g. radio antenna theory 1947 https://youtu.be/JHSPRcRgmOw or mechanics e.g. this one on differentials from the US auto industry 1937 https://youtu.be/yYAw79386WI .
And how about this 1943 US Army diversity training film? https://youtu.be/klChtgrnZUk
60
Yep!
When I were a younger lad, a “workshop” was a place where you could be killed or injured if you stopped paying attention to the instructors / tradesmen and the signage.
Nowadays, “workshops” are politically-loaded, paradigm-shifting “chat-fests”, specifically intended to repel REAL PEOPLE.
50
Same deal with the automotive industry, 50’s manuals described how to adjust brakes and set valve clearances, nowadays the manual says don’t drink the battery acid.
60
I remember the beautiful factory toolkit my parents’ Mercedes came with, back in the day.
And another even better factory tool kit that their Isuzi Bellet came with. I have spoken to Bellet club enthusiasts who have heard about this “mythical” item but never seen one. They are apparently exceptionally rare because they were rarely passed on when the car was sold.
These days you’re lucky if a car even comes with a spare tyre. But why would they even bother anyway? How many younger people would even know how to change a spare tyre?
I must say I was surprised when I first learned the RACV (car club roadside service) would change a flat tyre. I had never imagined this was a task that someone couldn’t do themselves.
My late mother once told me that back in the day, in order for her mother, one of the first female drivers in Sydney, to get a driver’s license you actually had to prove you could change a tyre.
120
Reported to be one of the best anti-theft devices for motor vehicles in 2025/26 was manual transmission.
80
In what country is that? Most British drivers, and I imagine most drivers in other European countries too, would know how the drive a car with manual transmission.
00
not the ones that are stealing cars through
00
“Modern “how-to” media is built to monetize attention, not to transfer skill. ”
…in a nutshell! When I’m world dictator Youtube is the first thing gone! The increase in IQ would more than pay for it.
And they pointed out that when the instruction manual get too long and too stupid, people just don’t read it!
01
another ian mentions this
Ah yes, having trained as an electrical tradesman, I remember them well.
Without a fraction of a doubt, far and away the best of them was the Turbo Encabulator explanatory video. (short at only a little less than two minutes, but an absolute classic)
Tony.
80
when teaching apprentices at a Victorian TAFE (Technical And Further Education) college, some of the inmates, sorry, students, would remark that trade school was a waste of their time as they could look everything up on their (tracking devices cunningly disguised as) telephones.
10
Both things have value. But if you don’t understand fundamentals the look ups make no sense.
00
FWIW
“In a video that began circulating on X Friday, a young hijab-wearing woman, speaking in German, explains just how terrible the Western world would be if there were no Muslims in it. With surpassing confidence and not a little indignation toward those who would dare to doubt what she is saying, or be so benighted as not to take it as axiomatic already, she said:”
“Islam created the scientific culture, Muslims laid the foundations of the modern world, and Europe benefited from it. This is what the world would be like without Muslims: no technology, no computer science, no AI, high mortality rates, low life expectancy, no medicine, no industry, no seafaring, no globalization, no feedback, no Enlightenment, greater oppression, injustice, disease, chaos, and poverty.
The West stands on the shoulders of Islamic scholars. Without Muslims, there would be no modern world. Science, medicine, and education would be centuries behind.
Today, it is being concealed and kept secret that Muslims developed modern technology. ”
“No matter how confidently they were expressed, every single one of these statements is false. Not only is what this woman spouting nonsense, but it makes most ordinary nonsense look like pure, crystalline common sense”
Much more at
https://pjmedia.com/robert-spencer/2026/01/24/without-muslims-europe-would-be-centuries-behind-n4948712
70
In legal reasoning it is called the “but for” test. But for a particular person being born WWII would not have happened. But for another person being born the other side would have won.
And it was actually quite influential not so long ago.
10
😂 where do we start with this?
10
Amelia!
30
The usual old arrogant, imperialistic claptrap, again?
10
Baghdad had street lighting before London did
10
So? The Ancient Egyptians had better sanitation than the early Muslims.
20
Yes and look what they did with that headstart
10
Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur: Powering Data Centers with Renewables is “Against Physics”
Essay by Eric Worrall
“Even after 3 or 5 years more innovation?”
“It’s against physics”.
Anti-renewable blasphemy in the Davos World Economic Forum, the citadel of globalism. The moment when someone tells the emperor he has no clothes.
The video is well worth watching, once they get over their momentary shock the quiet part is being spoken aloud, all the panelists nodded and agreed.
https://twitter.com/i/status/2014294701734515118
Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, also trashed renewables in Davos 2024 (first published JoNova);
The words are out now, and cannot be unspoken.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/larry_fink2.mp4
More at –
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/23/honeywell-ceo-vimal-kapur-powering-data-centers-with-renewables-is-against-physics/
80
Good video.
Aa the renewables scam comes crashing down everywhere in the world, except Australia, the Left who promoted these destructive, economy-destroying policies will try to weasel their way out.
What they did was inexcusable and against any science or engineering-based logic then or now.
They had no excuse. They are now caught up in their lies.
Don’t forgive. Don’t forget. Prosecute.
120
And keep an eye out for the next scam because there is no limit to human creativity, greed and lust for power.
Even if it produces truly stupid ideas. or should that be especially as it produces truly stupid ideas.
90
As history reveals what politicians get wrong is soon forgotten and they leave with a pension package most private sector employees can only dream about.
Example long forgotten, 1970-1980 period, state owned railways networks abandoned gradually in favour of road transport operated by the private sector and “negotiated” with Labor governments firstly in NSW and VIC. One of the transport industry giants and publicly listed company was TNT Limited (began as Thomas Nationawide Transport by Ken Thomas), the Board of Directors Chairman at the time was Sir Peter Ables ( now deceased). When the Labor NSW Premier Neville Wran QC retired he established a nationwide commercial cleaning contractor business and the major client was TNT Ltd and that holding company had offices, Ansett Airlines terminals and other assets needing commercial cleaners.
Drive the countryside today and observe the many railway tracks or routes, bridges and viaducts, abandoned while inferior secondary country roads cope with large road transport vehicles. It is well established that on a cost-benefits basis rail transport is far cheaper point to point interstate or intrastate country, far lower emissions from the most often used diesel-electric locomotives even when two or three are connected for long hauls east to west coast return, mining locations to ports, etc.
I cannot recall any former politician being penalised for letting constituents down and squandering tax revenue.
70
I fear you might be more than a tad optimistic as I expect Western educational system and much of the mass media to continue pushing “the Climate Crisis.” As Max Planck pointed out, “Science advances one funeral at a time”
20
FWIW – for the covid file
“Have Breast Cancer Rates Skyrocketed?”
From there
“The Manhattan friend just shared this with me. While I can’t verify the 20 year average age drop in breast cancer since the Covid jab, I have my strong suspicions.”
“Average age breast cancer…
Pre-covid: 55
Post-COVID: 35
This is info from a friend at @MDAndersonNews.
CDC has not updated cancer incidence data since 2022.”
https://x.com/MaryBowdenMD/status/2014902072991207813?s=20
Via https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/01/24/have-breast-cancer-rates-skyrocketed/
80
“CDC has not updated cancer incidence data since 2022”
A good indicator of which way the data is going. A hiatus while they think of their next best story. A bit like the BOMs pause in updating their cyclone frequency and intensity bar chart.
40
I’m shocked: according to a BBC weather woman, runaway gobble worming is now causing the following in the USA –
Hazardous Cold
Heavy Snow
Freezing Rain
Catastrophic Ice
Life-Threatening Windchill
Power Outages
There was I believing ‘heat’ was the big ki!!er – perhaps I need to change my Consensus-Thought™️. And what did she mean by advising Americans to stay clear of ‘snow-laden twees’?
/snark for twee-hugging gweenies.
90
Gerbil warming morphed into Climate Change for this reason.
Any and all types of storms, drought, cold, heat, floods, my flatulence etc. can be safely labelled as being due to Climate Change.
Climate Garbage would be a more apt name.
50
You may have missed the alarmist memo along the lines that it is only so cold because it is so hot.
30
Ms Sweetland, climate scientist, I realised I was indoctrinated, not educated. Sounds like a promising speech, haven’t had time to watch it all.
https://x.com/ClimateDepot/status/2014789413088149873
10
“All man-made climate education in schools has to stop. It is not science. It is a consensus — which is very different from an objective scientific fact.”
Ponzi?? Hello? You still around…?
70
Ok , forget consensus and get back to why you can’t provide evidence……, in mean, in the real world.
05
>provide evidence
You’re propagating a logical fallacy Ponzi.
Onus Probandi.
The burden of proof lies with the one making the claim.
The extraordinary claim is that human CO2 emissions cause catastrophic global warming.
The responsibility is on those making that claim to provide evidence and reasoning.
You are cheating by shifting the burden of proof.
It’s a common cheat used by those who have no evidence.
50
More “Oh Canada”
“Canada Thrives”
“I’m sad about the closure of Ag Canada research facilities, but it’s critically important that we free up money for gender-responsive climate financing in Vietnam.”
More at
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/01/24/canada-thrives/
20
Have noticed a drop-off in the numbers of European honey bees in our Canberra garden, but luckily there is an abundance of Blue Banded bees that are keeping the tomatoes pollinated.
Will have to build more habitat for them – they’re good to have around – damn quick too.
50
That would be caused by the unbelievably destructive Varroa Mite. The second image at the link shows the circled Varroa Mite. Scaled up to human size, that’s the equivalent size of a dinner plate.
Only place in Australia where these deadly mites are not located is in Western Australia, and my niece, Helen is on the Varroa Mite Management Team, desperately trying to keep them out of the State.
ABC News Article from December 2025
Tony’s Bee Experience
Bees Making Honey
Tony.
70
Brethren schools in Queensland now now openly pushing young earth creationism.
Only with religion can people believe such things.
28
Thankfully there are only 8000 students worldwide.
13
Millions more in the US
06
No, 8000 worldwide, I’ve done my homework.
10
Yes, very annoying when people wrongly think in other ways isn’t it?
50
Are you really ‘thinking ‘ that the World is only 10,000 years old ?.
16
Are you really ‘thinking’ the Universe is 14.7 billion years old?
40
About a million fold difference there, let’s look at the evidence for both.
So, on one hand we have the bible …. No , wait, you’re right !.
25
Mr/Ms/They Ponzi,
(Interesting nom de blog choice, given that CAGW is an actual Ponzi scheme) 🙂
You do realize this ‘openly pushing’ of which you complain is largely a response to pushing?
It is curious to me how the liberal minded, of whom you appear to be a self declared representative, have become so doctrinaire.
Expect more pushing.
Do you have such issues with the religion that dismisses history prior to the 7th century?
And has no lexicon of secular thought on which the science based culture you proffer is based.
Which the religious tradition you defame has both allowed and nurtured.
70
Nothing’pushy’ about scientific fact , if you don’t agree, prove otherwise. Supernatural explanations don’t belong in the science classroom, nothing ‘liberal’ about it , I prefer real life to fantasy.
Christianity has a long history of persecuting those who challenge it, eg your beloved Galileo , you should read more.
29
Or the scientifically ignorant.
People believe what they want to, typically things that give them comfort and reassurance that they’re in control of their futures.
AGW? We caused it, but being an intelligent species we can fix it. Belief and comforting at work.
12
Disclaimer: I think the young earth creationists are almost certainly mistaken.
On the other hand my God created the whole thing, set it in motion and pops back for a look and to make a few adjustments every now and again. On that basis He appears more and more like a space alien performing a science experiment.
So prove me wrong. And for bonus points prove the Brethren Schools wrong.
Oh dear. I am engaging with a poorly programmed bot again.
21
Wonder why the invisible man caused the great flood, wiping out all land creatures, rather than a great drought, drying out the oceans, and wiping out all life?
Whales take up too much space on the ark?
Favouritism for sea creatures?
For tonight’s homework, name 10 ways in which the bible has proven science wrong.😁
22
Sorry, like with climate denial, the burden of proof is with the one making the incredible claim, except with a god ( which one ?) the task is impossible.
13
You claim that CO2 causes global warming, a preposterous theory.
If not for our big moon we wouldn’t be here, this I think is incredible.
20
FWIW – meme text
“Steve Patterson
@steveinpursuit
It is remarkable how many people believe themselves intellectually
superior for repeating what authority tells them.
It is also remarkable how school is structured to reward students for
repeating what authority tells them
I wonder if there’s a connection.”
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/1860629697168154624.jpg
50
I’m for Hastie, but Watt thinks he’s too radical.
‘Murray Watt has dismissed the Liberal Party’s potential leadership alternatives as a choice between ‘the most extreme leader they’ve ever had’ or a ‘bumbling shadow treasurer who wanted to lift taxes’, saying both represent the ‘poor state’ of the federal Liberals.’ (Oz)
21
My sister-in-law and her husband, who live in Hastie’s electorate, love him. Surprising, since hubby is a solid Labor supporter.
20
Andrew Hastie was originally from NSW, I understand that he chose Perth for his home because of his impressive service with the ADF SASR and rank of Captain well before he left the ADF.
In my opinion based on many decades of fly on the wall experiences with politicians including cabinet ministers, Premiers and Prime Ministers, but never inside politics, the original Menzies Liberal Party of Australia has been, as former PM Howard once described it, “a broad church”, meaning factions. The majority have been centre to centre-right on the political spectrum. Andrew Hastie is a traditional Menzies Liberal.
Both side of the 2PP system (Labor and Liberal-National) have factions.
Labor at present is dominated by the far-left faction and highlighted by the PM who since university student activist period has been a follower of the late Russian revolutionary Marxist Leon Trotsky, as are various other Labor far-left MPs.
During the 1950s the Labor right (centre-left) spilt from the ALP and formed the DLP – Democratic Labor Party, but in more recent times the far-left factions have more factional numbers elected to Parliament and therefore control.
On the Liberal side since around 1990 the what many call LINO (Liberal In Name Only) left have increased their influence inside state executives and parliamentary party. The LINO now influences what decisions are taken including leadership. The traditional factions remain and I understand their numbers are slightly more than LINO and therefore stronger than Labor right is today.
Andrew Hastie should not be underestimated, my only question mark relates to age and experience but on the other hand military service and leadership proven places him well in front of others of similar age group. And possibly also older MPs?
Remember that after WW2 ended most politicians Federal and State had done military service and were young men, several I knew were under thirty years of age when elected to parliament and were cabinet ministers when younger than Andrew Hastie is now.
61
FWIW
“Senator Murray Watt
@MurrayWatt
X.com
We’re bringing parliament back early to pass
stronger gun laws and laws combating
antisemitism.
10:03 • 14/1/2026 24K
Views
0 641 0 151
Most relevant replies v
Katherine Deves Morgan
• 20 h
Disarming the population & silencing dissent
How very Soviet of you
023 01.4K”
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/1859203719711690752.jpg
70
USA hit hard by widespread winter storm:
A massive winter storm has caused widespread travel disruptions and power outages across the US, impacting 140 million people. From New Mexico to New England, heavy snow and ice have crippled infrastructure. Emergency declarations are in effect, with officials urging residents to remain indoors amid hazardous conditions.
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/science-environment/3781743-epic-winter-storm-paralyzes-us-flights-cancelled-and-power-outages-widespread
Reliable energy supplies are not a nice-to-have in vast regions of the northern hemisphere. It is essential for human life.
80
As my old Canadian boss used to say “stop whining, you Aussies have it too good. At least if you go out with the wrong clothes on you won’t die”.
60
There was a Canadian on a drilling crew out here whose nickname was “Snap Frozen”
20
FWIW
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/1860452776530677760.jpg
Many more there –
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2026/01/24/cool-cool-memes/
00
My latest edition of changing sunlight and changing climate:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NurCpaE1ee-Gu97Fzy4H32Eq0D_ItXow/view?usp=sharing
This update looks at why oceans are retaining more heat and there are new snowfall records being established. I also now include changes in the solar constant not just orbital changes.
20
If a genie appeared right now offering three wishes I think I would blow one wishing for all software to do better than just saying computer says no.
Even saying that I’ve had my lot for the day would be an improvement.
10
1st wish – Windows 11 never ever crashes or has BSODs.
Genie – “oh ffs, be reasonable!” 😆
I’ve spent 3 days now on a Windows 10 install as I’ve had it with Win 11.
In 3 days, zero crashes.
W11 user count is declining and W10 increasing as the masses are sick of it too.
30
Windows 13 to be launched on a Friday the 13th sometime in the future………………………….
00
Use Win10 in the Museum with a flight sim. Have to remaster the SSD on average once every two days, sometimes twice a day. Two other VR programs use Windows, and we can never be sure that they will work every morning. By contrast, the Linux-based displays turn on every morning and just work. Still thinking of changing the flight sim over to Linux.
30
Even worse quite a few are switching to Linux (of various types).
If you are thinking about this I suggest BSD should also be investigated.
10
It won’t crash.
Keep clear of the ‘net.
Use pdf files.
No worries.
10
The man who bought $1B in silver bullion
David Bateman, the founder of Entrata, revealed on X that he had purchased “close to a billion dollars in precious metals over the past six months.”
His reasons for the massive physical trade were as follows:
The global monetary system is about to collapse (The Great Reset, or Basel Endgame).
The biggest credit bubble in history will soon pop ($300T).
There is no way the US can refinance its $28T in maturing treasuries in the next 4 years without an obscene amount of printing.
Trump tariffs are hastening the collapse, and it’s by design.
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/congrats-everyone-meet-man-who-bought-1billion-physical-silver-rally
That’s serious confidence and no doubt very good intel.
10
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/understanding-cycles/understanding-domestic-vs-global-the-perfect-storm/
Yup. Buckle up kiddies, it’ going to be a bumpy ride.
10
George Carlin classic
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_siw2rj2rPZ1areze9.mp4
/not Ponzi safe 😆
50
I love Carlin
Nothing to do with denial of the facts though.
02
“My friend Mark Carney will visit Australia with an address to the Parliament in March,” Mr Albanese said in remarks on Australian Broadcasting Corp television.
‘Mr Albanese said he concurred with Mr Carney’s well-received Davos address that called on nations to accept the end of a rules-based global order and pointed to Canada as an example of how “middle powers” might act together to avoid being victimised by American hegemony.’ (The Straits Times)
33
““middle powers” might act together to avoid being victimised by American hegemony.’ ”
lol.. They’ve been enthusiastic lapdogs since WW2, now they’re rats abandoning the sinking ship and complaining that they’re being forced to fend for themselves.
Like kicking the 30yr-old kid out of the house and throwing his gaming computer after him! ..and just like that kid, the ‘Middle Powers’ have no real power at all!
51
WEF
* You will own nothing and be happier.
* After COVID-19 – Build Back Better – the socialist plan
30
FWIW
“Carney’s Davos speech”
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/01/21/carneys-davos-speech/
For independent checking
00
On one hand
“Mark Carney Has a Sterling Resume. Here’s the Part That Matters Most.
Canada’s prime minister has a background in central banking. He also has more experience as a politician than he lets on.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/28/mark-carney-canada-banking-politics-00310542
And on the other
“Matthew Lynn
Carney’s dire record at the Bank of England is a warning to Canada
Instead of successfully managing Britain’s financial stability, he politicised his role and contributed to our economic decline”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/29/carneys-dire-record-bank-of-england-is-a-warning-to-canada/
“On Carney’s Middling Record
An Examination Of His Actual Capacity”
“I am, admittedly, not a fan of Mark Carney’s. That is relevant detail to my political opinions, but I do think it’s fairly important to make clear the nature of my disdain for the former Bank Of Canada and Bank Of England Governor. I think his candidacy for leader would be a mistake on political grounds, yes. I also think his record is far less robust than many think.”
https://scrimshawunscripted.substack.com/p/on-carneys-middling-record
00
FWIW
“The Somali Waltz”
https://youtu.be/LCqL8_9NOxg
Via https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/01/24/the-somali-waltz/#comments
50
So the Age has a wonderful article about how SA is such a renewables superpower. It’s a shining light on what is achievable, and they compare SA to Denmark,(Mostly hydro) really? 100% by 2027, but for what period of time in the day, is that 100% for 100% of the time?
https://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/the-sa-miracle-how-one-australian-state-leads-the-world-on-renewables-20260122-p5nw5j.html
“On December 1, the Facebook group NEM Watch celebrated a record when the state hit 100 per cent net renewable energy consumption for an entire week. Last year, there were 289 days during which renewables met the entire consumption demand for the state for part of the day.”
How long was this part of the day, 1 sec, 1 min, 1 hour, all day (doubt that)?
The graph shows that solar, wind are increasing and their batteries are also getting an uptick, but they are still relying on gas and importing power from other states.
How much heavy industry still exists in SA?
“But in the longer term, says Merzian, South Australia’s green power will be used to boost its heavy industry. Green steel and hydrogen plants can effectively export renewable electrons embedded in their products around the world.”
“Export renewable electrons”, oh come on…
I love reading the comments, so many so blind that they cannot see.
It’s so good now it exports excess power, I guess they cannot sever the interlinks as they have to export this excess power and have to rely on them when their renewable fantasy isn’t working. So much renewables and the highest electricity prices in AU, no mention of their power prices, I guess that’s just a cost we have to bear.
110
FWIW
“Sen. Kennedy Schools Bill Maher, and I Bet He Hated That”
Including
“Kennedy cut straight to the core of the issue. “Well, you know what the real answer is? The real answer is immigration reform. That’s the real answer.”
Maher tried to declare victory. “Well, we did that. We closed the border.”
Kennedy shut that down immediately. “No, no, no, I’m talking about not only for illegal immigration, but also for legal immigration.”
From there, Kennedy calmly walked Maher into a corner using facts and common sense.”
More at
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2026/01/24/sen-kennedy-schools-bill-maher-and-i-bet-he-hated-that-n4948693
10
So….just tell me again who is in charge of China if Xi was pushed out, or just a figurehead, or …
“Another significant military purge appears underway in China, as Saturday morning the West woke up to news that China’s most senior military officer, who is second only to Xi Jinping, has been put under investigation over alleged “grave violations of discipline and the law.”
Gen. Zhang Youxia is a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, the Communist Party body that controls China’s armed forces, and this comes as somewhat of a major shock given he is widely regarded as President Xi’s closest ally within the military – or at least prior to this. Another member of the commission, Gen. Liu Zhenli, has also been placed under investigation, ”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/shockwaves-beijing-xi-targets-his-own-top-general-longtime-confidant-elite-purge
00
You misread the article.
Xi isn’t out, he’s doing a purge of (less) corrupt underlings.
Again.
Translation: How dare you lot rob without giving me my slice!
30
No JC, I was aiming it at El Gordo, he’s always telling us Xi is gone..
00
I have been intrigued by the Chinese Communist Party dominance and totalitarianism.
Friends in Hong Kong who lived under the British System of Government were very concerned when the time arrived for handing the leased land to China, being of Chinese descent and with relatives in China they wanted continuation of British influence. Most successfully applied for citizenship in UK, Canada, US, NZ, Australia and become dual citizens.
Going back to the periods of an Emperor in China voyages were financed to explore the world to discover what was available that could benefit Chinese people. Not widely known one fleet of sailing Junks large and small sailed to Australia and on the East Coast landed in various locations including Tin Can Bay Queensland being coastal at the bottom of Fraser Island and east of Gympie, the town that saved Queensland’s economy when vast gold deposits were discovered. The Chinese visitors established a camp at Tin Can Bay and even built a stone watchtower nearby on a hill. I understand the period was 1400s. In the early 1900s that tower was demolished and rocks cast into the sea to remove the trace of China settlement. The Historical Society in Gympie has examples of pottery and other items Chinese explorers left when they planted trees to mark their visit and placed the items below to be preserved in the roots system.
There is also other evidence of foreign visitors along the coastline of QLD, NSW & VIC. At Gladstone what appears to be an ancient stone wharf among Mangroves. In Sydney near the Zoo on the Harbourside carvings that are not Aboriginal but are very old.
My point of being intrigued is reading about the decision by one Emperor not to continue exploration sailing trips, itv was decided that China did not need the outside world but would trade with it – example Silk Road. The fleets were destroyed.
It appears that CCP are interested in much more than trade.
30
My Chinese mate who comes to stay with me grew up in HK, then Auckland, then now back to HK for his parents while he reckons Sydney. He’s Cantonese-speaking, and the people from around that area are the ones that the West met all around the world. They were the traders and travellers.
His parents moved to NZ as China took HK back, and while they are going back to live there in HK for their final years, he has no time for the Communist Govt at all. He counts the British idea of innocent until proved guilty as extremely important, so its a shame he’s moving to a country that is heading straight down the same ‘censorship-guilty until proved innocent-tracked by Govt’ regime. The Australia he wants is 20years out of date.
20
The supposed investigation into Gen. Zhang Youxia is disinformation, Reuter, BBC and ABC are unreliable sources.
02
EG!
Then what is the problem Gen. Zhang Youxia is having?
00
Its Machiavellian, they are giving the impression that Zhang Youxia is being investigated.
He is the backbone of the new democracy movement, so he maybe standing aside to give Wang Yang a free hand.
01
Things like this have the explanation that is
“neat, plausible and wrong”
With the refinement of
“neat, complicated, plausible and wrong”
10
The stories are becoming even more bizarre and unbelievable.
‘General Zhang Youxia allegedly leaked core technical data on China’s nuclear weapons to the US and accepted bribes for official acts.’ (Oz)
01
FWIW
“Worth Watching”
“And this is far from the end. With thousands of officers having risen through the ranks under Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, these individuals now recognize they are primary targets for a systemic purge. Mobile devices have been seized across ranks & all units are now on high alert
Quote
Jonathan Cheng
@JChengWSJ
·
24 Jan
China’s Xi Places His Top General Under Investigation as Military Purges Heat Up—Gen. Zhang Youxia is most senior member of military hierarchy to face dismissal since fallout of 1989 Tiananmen protests
@ByChunHan @Lingling_Wei ”
https://x.com/Lingling_Wei/status/2015062645209014782
Via https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/01/24/worth-watching/
00
‘Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has agreed to take three former Liberal Party-donating fund managers to dinner with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, in exchange for them donating $100,000 each to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.’ (Oz)
22
A great Australian who used a small fortune inheritance from her father Lang Hancock and children’s inheritances invested to create a very substantial large fortune.
Free Enterprise rules!!!
51
‘ … who is in charge of China if Xi was pushed out, or just a figurehead …’
Wang Yang.
01
Hoo Flung Dung
21
FWIW
“The Natural Gas Moment”
“Every civilization that has ever endured did so because it mastered energy before it tried to moralize it. From firewood to coal, from coal to oil, and from oil to gas, the dominant energy source of each era was not chosen by committees or consensus, but by physics. Cheap, reliable, and scalable energy has always been the invisible foundation of economic growth, social stability, and political power. When energy becomes expensive or unreliable, societies do not gradually adjust; they fracture. Inflation rises, industry decays, trust erodes, and political extremism fills the vacuum.”
“Energy, before it becomes a market slogan or a moral crusade, is a stubborn physical constraint. It obeys the laws of thermodynamics, chemical bonds, and time — none of which have ever shown much respect for press releases, regulations, or well-intentioned speeches. These laws do not negotiate, do not compromise, and certainly do not care how virtuous a policy sounds. Ignore them long enough and reality stages a hostile takeover in the form of shortages, price spikes, and grids that mysteriously stop working. The current energy debate in the United States is no different. It is not really a debate about the environment or technology; it is a wrestling match between physics and politics, and physics has an undefeated record.”
More at
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2026-01-24/natural-gas-moment
70
New ammunition for taking out drones as defence innovation races to catch up with offensive innovation-
“Russian arms conglomerate Rostec has announced the successful testing of a new dedicated anti-drone round, expected to greatly increase the capabilities of troops to fend off smaller UAVs.
The round, named Mnogotochie (Ellipsis), comes in several calibers commonly used by the Russian military. The new round packs a separating bullet that splits into three pieces mid-air, more than doubling the chances of hitting an aerial target at distances of up to 300 meters, according to Rostec.”
I suppose it saves having a dedicated shotgunner in every squad. Everyone will try it now.
https://www.rt.com/russia/631427-anti-drone-rifle-round/
10
FWIW
“Polar Colding…Antarctica Saw Its Coldest October In 44 Years!”
“Record cold at the South Pole … Amundsen-Scott Station records -61.3°C … coldest October temperature in Southern Hemisphere since 1981.
The German, realist European Institute for Climate and Energy (EIKE) presents its latest video on the subject of Antarctica and contrasts the new records with mainstream media coverage of climate change.”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/24/polar-coldingantarctica-saw-its-coldest-october-in-44-years/
10
FWIW
“Another Exit: Ultra Low Carbon Solar Alliance”
““Having achieved our goals, the Alliance believes it is appropriate to sunset the organization and promote Ultra Low Carbon Solar through other channels as we proudly cheer the continued expansion of sustainable low carbon solar manufacturing.” ”
Discussion on that at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/24/another-exit-ultra-low-carbon-solar-alliance/
00
Tricky stuff in the Russian strikes on Ukraines electricity system-
“the 750 kV standard is a Soviet-specific legacy high-voltage transmission standard which is not compatible with most European countries, which run 300-500 kV max. On the contrary, 330 kV appears to be a standard voltage range that can be easily sourced and replaced from a variety of Western countries. Theoretically, this means a destroyed 750 kV facility is essentially gone for good.”
This might be a fine example of what can happen to any country and we will see just how difficult it is to replace a whole grid system. Russia can knock out the final pieces of Ukraine’s grid is a few more strikes apparently.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/has-russia-finally-begun-disconnecting
30
Suggested reading:
“The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy”, by Thomas Sowell.
In this book, he describes how elites—the anointed—have replaced facts and rational thinking with rhetorical assertions, thereby altering the course of our social policy.
https://mises.org/power-market/how-vision-anointed-explains-every-crisis-america
“The cycle Sowell described continues to repeat itself again and again. What Sowell gives is not a grand theory of everything, but a framework for analyzing any plan wrapped in moral superiority but thin in empirical evidence. “
00