Could have saved a lot of trouble by just sending them money, and forget about building the turbines. Thats really the core of the scam, the rest is just theatre.
Australia’s NEM draft system plan is out for comment. It starts with a factual statement that embodies a lie by lack of detail:
The Draft 2026 ISP reaffirms that renewable energy, firmed with storage, backed up by gas and connected by upgraded networks, presents the least-cost way to supply secure and reliable electricity to consumers, while meeting government policies.
It skates over the fact that the government policy is ?NetZero”. So so-named “renewables” are the lowest cost way to net zero. It specifically avoids the fact that it is about 4 times the cost of grid power.
But it really does not matter because the document really fails on fundamentals. Rooftop solar and battery now delivers household power at about 25% of the cost of retail grid power.
Rooftop solar and battery now delivers household power at about 25% of the cost of retail grid power.
But I assume it wouldn’t be competitive with grid power if in a free market without forced purchase of grid wind and solar and from traditional coal, gas or real hydro (not SH2) producers?
The horse has bolted. The grid has been destroyed economically. All the money already spent on upgrading the grid is now locked into retail electricity bills. Some of the cost of complexity is levied at energy component so that is arguably misapplied. It could be levied at cost of service but that can only go so far because no “renewables” are paying the true cost of firming the system.
I doubt the grid will ever be able to offer electricity at lower cost than using your own battery to store free lunchtime power. There could be a crunch if there is no more rooftop solar added but that is not yet on the horizon.
This ISP has made significant acknowledgement of what they term Consumer Energy Resources.. So at least they are now recognising the impact and. They have not yet acknowledged the grid is an economic death spiral. But its is relegated to the last section (9) rather than being the main focus:
9.1 Consumers are investing in their own energy resources. Those who can are investing in rooftop solar, batteries and other resources, with government policies making the economics more attractive. These consumer energy resources or CER (see definition box in Section 1.2) are forecast to reach over a third of the NEM’s installed generation capacity by 2050.
9.2 Relatively small investments in the distribution networks would support that CER. Modelling confirms that optimising voltage management would overcome current network constraints and unlock latent capacity so CER can export an additional 3.5 GW to the grid. This would avoid larger investments, and the needed investment may even reduce as more home batteries are installed.
9.3 CER contribution reduces grid-scale investment. In total, the assumed levels of CER coordination, particularly from coordination of EVs, would reduce total system costs by $7.2 billion. Extending current policies that support energy efficiency, as assumed, is estimated to provide $12 billion in cost savings
There is already no point in expanding the grid to cater for wind and solar farms. They are already uneconomic or approaching it and Snowy 2 will not save them. All of the current AEMO projects rely on taxpayers underwriting their profitability.
I expect there is still a lot of under-utilised rooftop solar that will get higher utilisation as more batteries go in. Also I believe the existing coal plants will be needed for quite some time and they have a minimum demand that is contributing to wind curtailment.
There was no need to upgrade the existing network before geographically isolated intermittent energy producers came onto the scene – it was already “gold plated” and adequate.
The upgrade costs should have been charged to the intermittents, not the public, and added to their cost of production.
Even ignoring the problem of cloudy weeks (let’s presume some emergency backup exits) … I still don’t believe it.
I am not referring to a system working off the grid.
From July 2026, the Federal government will require retailers to offer free energy from 11am to 2pm. So take a consumer who uses at least 15kWh daily buys a 15kWh battery for $8,000,
Annual energy drawn from the battery is 5645kWh all at zero cost of supply. After 15 years, the total from battery is 84375kWh at an average cost of 9c/kWh. After 10 years, average price is 14c/kWh. After 20 years, 7c/kWh.
These values have no allowance for loss of opportunity of capital or inflation. If you assume lost opportunity is 2% over inflation then the average cost is 10.3c/kWh after 20 years.
Taking a cost of capital at 5% the payback would be 4 years. If you own property and have a life expectancy of more than 4 years than the battery is an economic proposition. Choose the battery size that meets your normal demand from 2pm to 11am. Any electric hot water system can be used to also store free energy.
There is a lot of competition building in the NEM because coal plants are operating longer at minimum demand and there is very high risk of system collapse if they try to operate with fewer. So wholesale prices should continue down on average. The risk for the system now is low demand and not having the hot reserve to respond if needed. Hence the push for battery capacity to restore some lunchtime demand.
If every home and business owner without solar did this then the day time solar glut would be gobbled up in a few years but by then you are ahead. But having an option to add solar panels could prove valuable in the longer run – after 5 years.
These values have no allowance for loss of opportunity of capital or inflation. If you assume lost opportunity is 2% over inflation then the average cost is 10.3c/kWh after 20 years.
But in order to acess that “free power”, you still need a grid connection, meaning at the minimum a daily service charge ( currently approx $1.50/ day)..
So that immediatelly adds another 10c/kWh, doubling the payback period, .
.and i am sure that daily charge will increase further as the grid becomes more expensive to maintain ($2-3.00 /day ?) in 10 yrs.
And i am also sure there will be some other as yet unknown costs/restrictions on consumers using that free power to recharge batterys. ?
Its not about
Roof Top solar, but about giving a market/outlet for grid Solar farms (and Wind ) generation that would otherwise be curtailed due to lack of demand.
There is already e problem with lack of demand due to the onslaught of lunchtime generation. There is already underutiilised rooftop solar that can be tapped if more batteries go in.
Ideally, there would be no dip through the middle of the day. The NEM is a long way from that.
A lot of this discussion fall flat between the “big picture ” view of what the market should do and the realities of peoples situation re rooftops, residence longevity, spare capital or borrowing ability and each persons assessment of how effective that borrowing will be. Wealthy retiree projection, if you will.
But in order to acess that “free power”, you still need a grid connection, meaning at the minimum a daily service charge ( currently approx $1.50/ day)..
Whether you have a battery or not, you are still paying the service charge so it does not come into the analysis for the battery purchase. It would have been more accurate for me to state “energy” rather than power but it is beside the point, not a factor in the battery analysis.
The connection fee is the insurance policy that allows the battery owner to take more than your battery can deliver.; either on peak demand on total in the day between 3pm and 11am.
The average cost of power for a 6000kWh annual demand in South Australia is now 56c/kWh. So the saving in the State is closer to 45c/lWh. And SA is the leading “renewables” region in the world so gives a hint of thew future.
I am grateful for your arguments Rick, been following since you started.
The reason is that my daily consumption is about 30 kWh. However, we pay only $.22/kWh.
Setting PV panels would be quite hard but I thought about battery anyway – as you discussed.
Still, our problem has nothing to do with physics or years before $$ return.
No one can trust the government, full stop.
As we speak they are reading this blog (you – specifically) and working their next step to beat you.
Nigel,
I have not read all of the AEMO reports, just many of them and this theme of abiding by government policy appears in most, if not all. They are weasel words that AEMO use to weasel out of exercises like calculating and making public the real, comparative, whole system/whole time cost of renewables electricity versus (for example) coal-fired.
It means in effect that AEMO has elected not to position itself to warn the government of a bad outcome. They will not do the analysis because government policy favours net zero carbon by b2050 or whenever.
In my book, this selective use of data is tantamount to a criminal choice.
In the past, say 20 years and more ago, we trusted engineers and (to a lesser extent) economists to tell society the good and the bad of public policies. Now, a fair % of engineers, power engineers in particular, have chosen the possibly illegal route of staying quiet or supporting plans they know to be costly, uneconomic or plain made up (like the word “renewables”).
Those years ago, professional people were stripped of their badges when shown to have acted dishonestly or in a manner that bought disgrace to the profession.
We can revive that system, if we can elect politicians who are there to serve the will of the voters, rather than to serve their particular private ideologies.
But first, we have to start punishing the miscreants. Geoff S
Here in devon we have had about 2 flakes of snow, enough to send schools into panic mode. Gas has been out for several thousand homes locally as a developer accidentally severed pipes. Been an inch or two in upland dartmoor
It went milder so quickly, the rain that fell last night was still frozen on the pavements that had been in the shade at midday, even though the air temperature was well above freezing last night +7C at one point.
I saw a warning issued by Australia’s BoM for Newcastle, NSW, a few days ago, that warned of “extreme heat” even though the maximum temperature predicted was a mere 27C (80.6F).
“The first major heatwave of the year enters its second day…”
Who needs to count, ie. 1, 2, 3, when you write for the ABC.
Meanwhile it’s snowing to the north of AUS, practically on the equator on Indonesia’s 4554m Puncak Jaya / Carstenz Pyramid, while the weekend’s cool change is forecast to drop snow on our Southern Alps & Fiordland. Nope, no change there, same as it ever was.
Here is an amazing video about finding islands of order in the chaos of double pendulum oscillations. The graphics are amazing when you consider the amount of work to do for the calculations and then the rendering.
Let’s uncover order in chaos by running millions of double pendulums and generating a new fractal in the process.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:49 3D Simulations of Order and Chaos
5:55 Laying the Groundwork and on Determinism
7:05 Plotting Order and Chaos
11:43 Visualizing All Possible Initial Positions
13:52 Pixel Visualization and the Islands of Stability
19:28 Flips and the Hidden Order in Chaos
25:24 Only a Tourist’s Guide
…
The animations were made with Blender and Manim CE. Both are free, open-source, and supported by awesome communities.
…
The code used to generate the animations can be found here: …
All double pendulum simulations in the video were calculated using an 8th-order Dormand-Prince Runge-Kutta method, which is designed for solving ordinary differential equations with very high accuracy using double-precision floating-point calculations.
24:21: I have validated the existence of these unexpected elements by varying gravity, rod-length ratios, pendulum masses, and the rtol and atol values of the torchdiffeq’s dopri8 ODE solver. While the exact shapes and locations shift with these parameters, the following qualitative features persist: (1) regions where double pendulums fall into apparent visual chaos without ever flipping, and (2) distinct islands within which double pendulums flip repeatedly yet maintain a high degree of order over long durations.
Fun(?) facts about the creation of this video:
1. The zooming shot at 24:45 was created by simulating a total of 5.04 billion double pendulums (42 seconds * 30 fps * 2000 px * 2000 px), each running for 70 seconds. My RTX 3060 laptop would have taken ~105 days to process the calculations for this shot alone, not even including the rendering of the animation. So, I rented a more powerful GPU instead.
2. In the process of making this video, I had to render tens of thousands of 4k-quality PNG images. My Final Image Renders folder, at some point, had a size of 852 GB.
Just like the two videos before this, I will be publishing many shorter supplementary simulation videos in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned!
David Maddison,
I do like the double pendulum and have posted a short video of it here a couple of times. Seemed a very good way to explain how a perfect model of something non-random can be unpredictable. Useful, when pointing out the futility of trying to develop long-term weather models.
The first few minutes of the video you’ve linked to above would do a similar job, but with spectacular graphics. Amazing, and obviously a lot of work.
Despite the huge amount of number crunching and kWh expended, I doubt that it’s accurate. In particular, some of the “patterns” he claims to have revealed look like moire-style aliasing. The calculations were done in double precision — about 15 digits accuracy. Seems quite plausible that the patterns are artefacts of roundoff.
Maybe that just *further* demonstrates the dangers of modelling chaotic systems.
YouTube is full of ads for scam, false and misleading advertisements including deep fakes where AI generated videos of famous people falsely endorse some product or service and the management seen not to care.
If you are a regular watcher of YouTube you have probably seen one aimed at men 50+ claiming that practicing Tai Chi according to their technique, which you presumably pay for to learn, will in a short amount of time give a body that looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime.
It is of course total BS. No one of any age can get a body like that without extensive workouts on weights and more than likely with using ‘roids as well.
Even Tai Chi masters do not get bodies like those portrayed.
The answer is that the images of the “trainer”, a man in his 50’s or 60’s are AI generated.
It’s amazing that people promote these sort of scams, but unfortunately lies and dishonesty are part of modern life as is the general lack of morality. It doesn’t help that the practice of lying comes from the top levels of government with most political leaders and politicians actually incapable of telling the truth about anything and others just follow their lead.
No one of any age can get a body like that without extensive workouts on weights and more than likely with using ‘roids as well.
Yup. Plus MANY years of brutal training, and even then you may not be bulging muscles, and even then there are a few nasty downsides.
I have fitness qualifications, with distinctions, and many years of experience and never got to look like Arnie.
But looking back, the Clark Kent look but with Superman-like abilities was so much nicer.
Ask Anatoly (Vladamir Shmondenko.)😎
What can an old man do? https://youtu.be/YFbdukrZZHc?si=9WnXChh2pr1lcD5W
Ha ha…
The national area-averaged mean temperature in December was 1.02 °C above the 1961–1990 average.
Area-averaged mean temperature was above average for all states and territories except for Tasmania.
For Western Australia, area-averaged mean temperature was 1.56 °C above average, the sixth-highest on record since national observations started in 1910. For South Australia, it was 1.61 °C above average, the tenth-highest on record.
Australia’s area-averaged mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures were 1.27 °C and 0.76 °C above the 1961–1990 average for December respectively.
…
December mean maximum temperatures were above average to very much above average (in the highest 10% of all Decembers since 1910) for:
most of Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales
parts of southern Queensland and the Northern Territory
areas in northern Victoria.
…
SEE LINK FOR REST
Notice that for their mean daily maximum temperature map it is shown in a SCARY RED HOT colour scheme.
It has been quite warm inland.
We experienced that yesterday when the cool coastal breezes that we normally experience in Melbourne were replaced by hot winds coming from the centre of the continent.
There is a large system spinning up in the Coral Sea. It will head further south before crossing the coast. It could be destructive given its current size and the low moisture/high temperature in western Queensland and NSW that will feed it. Temperatures now getting above 40C and not enough moisture to drive convection inland.
This system will feed off that hot dry air in SW Queensland; in circulation up through NT. A good part of Australia a big solar panel over the next few days taking in lots of heat to fuel this storm.
David,
NSW apparently had a +1.9C mean temp for December. I checked through all the NSW sites and only 26 out of 160 sites registered an anomaly of +1.9C or more . Apparently the BoM works out the mean temp from the 1961-1990 average, so it is not a true indication of the actual mean temps because it does not take the actual average of each site into account.. https://reg.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/nsw/summary.shtml
Winston Churchill is credited with this concise explanation.
Capitalism is the Unequal distribution of Wealth,
Socialism is the Equal distribution of Poverty.
Communism is Socialism with a gun in your back.
Churchill forgot to mention that elites do very well under Communism,
This gem was published in the Gateway pundit today.
History shows that communism is the ultimate oligarchy, a system set up to ensure the elites are among the wealthiest in the world via theft. At the same time, the masses experience true ‘equality.’
In addition, the Elites have a vast slave army of ignorant, mal-educated useful idiots to support them.
You see it every time there is a rally of Leftists marching in support of the latest “cause” whether it be “climate change” or their support of terrorists or drug lords.
Notice how a lot of Leftists wear septum rings in their noses? Just like a prize farm animal. It advertises that the wearer is a follower, not a leader. Ideal useful idiots of the Elites to follow any cause as long as you tell them “it’s woke, comrade”.
“‘A Recipe for Idiocracy’
What happens when even college students can’t do math anymore?”
“For the past several years, America has been using its young people as lab rats in a sweeping, if not exactly thought-out, education experiment. Schools across the country have been lowering standards and removing penalties for failure. The results are coming into focus.
Five years ago, about 30 incoming freshmen at UC San Diego arrived with math skills below high-school level. Now, according to a recent report from UC San Diego faculty and administrators, that number is more than 900—and most of those students don’t fully meet middle-school math standards. Many students struggle with fractions and simple algebra problems. Last year, the university, which admits fewer than 30 percent of undergraduate applicants, launched a remedial-math course that focuses entirely on concepts taught in elementary and middle school. (According to the report, more than 60 percent of students who took the previous version of the course couldn’t divide a fraction by two.) One of the course’s tutors noted that students faced more issues with “logical thinking” than with math facts per se. They didn’t know how to begin solving word problems.
The university’s problems are extreme, but they are not unique. Over the past five years, all of the other University of California campuses, including UC Berkeley and UCLA, have seen the number of first-years who are unprepared for precalculus double or triple. George Mason University, in Virginia, revamped its remedial-math summer program in 2023 after students began arriving at their calculus course unable to do algebra, the math-department”
This video is just one of many that this youtube poster has done.
He asks very basic questions of university students. Duration 10 minutes.
Remember, these students have graduated high school!
You’re either going to laugh or cry…or maybe both.
University students have been dumbed down for a long time.
Many of similar level of ignorance will by now be in high levels of management and Government and responsible for climate, economic, immigration policy etc..
Capitalism is often thought of as an economic system in which private actors own and control property in accord with their interests, and demand and supply freely set prices in markets in a way that can serve the best interests of society.
The essential feature of capitalism is the motive to make a profit. As Adam Smith, the 18th century philosopher and father of modern economics, said: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.”
We currently live in a world where the traditions and institutions designed to protect the ownership of Capital has been given to a remote elite whose power allows them to control markets without benevolence or an interest in the welfare of the community.
We are mandated to buy a Jab, upgrade to Windows 11, own a smart phone, pay for the destruction of our electrical grid, etc Not because these are an essential required in our daily life or the most cost effective and useful means of acquiring or retaining our own capital, we are compelled to accept these products to maintain the power of a remote oligarchy.
One such example is the US patent system. Who manages this system where new ideas (Intellectual Capital) are registered?
Answers from the Brave browser
Yes, Serco is involved in managing certain aspects of the U.S. patent process, but it does not manage the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) itself. Instead, Serco operates under contract with the USPTO to provide patent classification services.
Since 2006, Serco has held contracts to review, analyze, and assign classification symbols to newly submitted patent applications. This helps the USPTO with examiner workflows, public searches, and internal document routing. At its peak, Serco processed over 1,600 applications per day and surpassed 4 million total applications handled.
Who owns Serco? (Appears to be a bit sensitive about Prince William as I did not mention his Royal Highness.)
Serco Group plc is a publicly traded company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: SRP) and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
It is not owned by any individual or single entity, but rather by a group of shareholders. The largest shareholders include FIL Investment Services (UK) Ltd, Mercantile IT ORD, Fidelity Special Situations Fund, Vanguard Group Inc., and Wellington Management International Ltd.
The company was originally founded in 1929 as RCA Services Limited, a division of the Radio Corporation of America, and was later acquired by its management in 1987, leading to its renaming as Serco.
There is no evidence that Prince William owns Serco, a claim that has been debunked as false.
I don’t get how a 25 year old can get into Parliament. Way too young. But he was the grandson of a duke, and born in a palace so I guess that helped… plus he’d done a lot of shooting at brown people in far off countries…
Donut Labs is a spin-off from Verge motorcycles – Finnish company. The motorcycle commands an extraordinary price that people are willing to pay for the experience. The new battery will be used in the 2026 Verge bikes and extend the range to 1000km on the top models.
As far as I can find there is no independent testing for these batteries but the claims are way ahead of any existing lithium battery. Around twice the energy density. Cycle life into the hundred of years. Uses relatively abundant materials.
These batteries could make solar in most of Australia competitive with lignite generation. That would be significant because it guarantees the demise of the grid with centralised generation.
the claims are way ahead of any existing lithium battery. Around twice the energy density. …..
The claimed energy density of 400Wh/kg is hardly impressive.
Ther are already cells in production with similar ED.
Until someone can show a real ED of 1000+Wh/kg from a cell with a cost less than $50/kWh ( unsubsidised ), i dont see any significant change in the slow but steady developement of the status quo.
And as you say, there are many questions unanswered by Donut ! https://youtu.be/Qsi-TS8PX7U?si=-m_H79XbsFGrBZHM
Just to pick a nit Fraser Island was originally Fraser’s Island after Captain James Fraser who was shipwrecked there in 1836.
It was one of a whole string of islands up the Qld coast which lost the possessive ‘s at some point. Good luck finding that particular slice of history. After all Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
Back to Ayers Rock. I remember a good friend of mine asking why I persisted in calling it that because in his culture it was always called Uluru. He followed up by asking why I showed such disrespect to his culture.
I responded that in my culture it was always called Ayers Rock. I followed up by asking why he showed such disrespect to my culture.
It changed its name and country of registration to Russia shortly before.
It’s a Venezuelan blockade runner, believed to be part of the ghost fleet also serving Russia and Iran.
The Russians will make noises and any propaganda out of it they can but I don’t suppose they really care, even though they sent a sub to watch.
Reportedly UK forces assisted with the seizure.
Re “Reportedly UK forces assisted with the seizure.”
FWIW – More on that in here –
“HMMM: Trump’s capture of Russian oil tanker sets a perilous precedent.
The dramatic seizure of two Russian-linked oil tankers by American forces throws up complicated legal questions as well as the risk of reprisals, experts have warned.
The US Coast Guard on Wednesday swooped on two vessels it had been pursuing for weeks over alleged breaches of the naval blockade imposed on Venezuela.
The vessels – known as Bella 1 and M Sophia – are thought to be part of Moscow’s “shadow fleet” and are accused of flying false flags and carrying out sanctions-busting activities.
But they were seized in what Russia claimed were international waters, a controversial move that would raise complicated questions of international law, shipping industry insiders have said.
US and UK officials have claimed they acted lawfully.
Afternoon a i,
This is from a reply at your link, a bit of law I’d not heard of:
They figured that claiming Russian flag status would protect them….and the chose poorly, when the US noted that UNCLOS law does not allow re-flagging at sea, especially as they had already been seen wearing a false flag (Gayanna), and had already been long under US sanctioned for transporting Iran’s oil.
“ghost fleet” = anyone not insured via the Lloyds insurance cartel
The media like to call them shadow or ghost fleet vessels when they are just out there doing business ignoring the US unilateral sanctions which surprisingly are not international law (if that even matters anymore)
““Should LCOE finally be retired from energy policy?” ”
““The LCOE narrative has just collided with reality. If ‘cheap’ solar and wind really were enough, the energy transition would largely run on autopilot. Emissions would fall. Subsidies wouldn’t be needed. Electricity would get cheaper. None of that is happening.” – Jonas Kristiansen Nøland, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (below)”
Today, the CDC formally adopted a revised childhood and adolescent immunization schedule, following a Presidential Memorandum directing alignment with international best practices.
This marks the largest rollback of routine childhood vaccination in U.S. history.
After reviewing peer-country schedules and the scientific evidence underlying them, federal health leadership acknowledged that we are hyper-vaccinating our children.
Thursday news catchup: Bovine Colostrum 3× more effective than Flu vaccination in preventing Flu illness
Participants experienced ~60% fewer illness days and ~75% fewer flu-like episodes with bovine colostrum compared to flu vaccination.
As flu season intensifies and the media pushes so-called “super-flu” narratives—a manufactured term designed to increase tanking vaccine uptake and/or generate clicks—many people are actively seeking effective prevention strategies beyond failed flu shots, which recent real-world data show increase flu risk by 27%.
Humans may be able to grow new teeth within just 4 years
Japanese researchers are moving forward with an experimental drug that promises to regrow human teeth. Human trials began in September 2024.
If all goes well, Kitano Hospital will administer the treatment to patients between the ages of 2 to 7 who are missing at least four teeth, with the end goal of having a tooth-regrowing medicine available by the year 2030. While these treatments are currently focused on patients with congenital tooth deficiency, Takahashi hopes the treatment will be available for anyone who’s lost a tooth.
Cops forced to explain why AI-generated police report claimed officer transformed into frog
Law enforcement has quickly embraced AI for everything from drafting police reports to facial recognition.
The results have been predictably dismal. In one particularly glaring — and unintentionally comedic — instance, the police department in Heber City, Utah, was forced to explain why a police report software declared that an officer had somehow shapeshifted into a frog.
In an exclusive 2026 interview, former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield tells Dr. Drew what really happened behind-the-scenes during COVID – and why so much of what he knows is still classified. Dr. Redfield lays out his theory on the pandemic’s origin, pointing to specific clues (including the furin cleavage site) that indicate lab engineering and gain-of-function research from bio labs in Wuhan, China.
“I found that in 2014 or 2015, this laboratory in Wuhan actually published that they had taught coronaviruses how to infect human tissue,” reveals the former CDC director. “I said: I think THIS virus was taught.”
He has a warning: after witnessing the largest pandemic of our generation, Dr. Redfield believes another animal flu is the next major threat.
From the 1/2/2026 episode of Ask Dr. Drew: • Quality Learing Center…
Dr. Robert Redfield is a virologist, infectious disease expert, and former Director of the CDC. He served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force and Operation Warp Speed board and co-founded the University of Maryland’s Institute of Human Virology. He is the author of “Redfield’s Warning: What I Learned (But Couldn’t Tell You) Might Save Your Life” available now at https://amzn.to/3YPMcfk
After decades of disastrous and corrupt dietary advice, the U.S. government has updated the food pyramid, quietly walking back many of the nutritional dogmas that helped destroy public health.
Meat is no longer treated like a toxin. Whole milk is no longer taboo. Eggs are back. Ultra-processed foods are being demoted. Sugar is being named as a problem.
ROTFL! decades overdue!
Yes, meat butter and eggs at the top where they belong.
Australia taken over by the US as Marine division deploys and takes over Canberra. The ABC secured and manned by US Special Forces. Trump says that Australia is too strategic to be left in the hands Marxist Albanese government. Albanese, Bowen, Wong and Burke arrested. Bowen transferred to psychiatric facility to be assessed for Grandiose Delusional Disorder. Trump declares Australia to be made great for Australians again. Pffft!: Just dreamin’. Fell asleap to 582 Hz Solfeggio dream frequencies again.
“I hereby direct all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to take immediate steps to effectuate the withdrawal of the United States from the organizations listed in section 2 of this memorandum as soon as possible. For United Nations entities, withdrawal means ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent permitted by law.”
There are roughly 65 international agencies he is withdrawing funding from.
Let me have a try.
It refers to the deluded state of the narcissists who spend their lives in La La Land.
Does that help you?
If not , it is quite possible that you are among them.
For a long time it simply meant the past tense of wake. (to end your sleep).
Then some in the African-American community started using it to mean ‘being alert to racial prejudice and discrimination’.
But now, it is often a pejorative term to mock or describe social engineering like forced diversity, forced equity, discrimination through forced inclusion (DEI), “political correctness”, and mock the snowflakes who are overly sensitive to reality based ideas that go against their doctrine, performative activism, or cultural elitism.
Not having seen the movie, I’d guess Vladimir is using it somewhere in the context of the third meaning. Probably in a social engineering way in that it probably gives a positive spin to some of those themes.
It was found that under the deliberate forced mental break downs, it is the smaller pressures that courses the break down. With larger pressures the client can cope but it is the smaller pressures that breaks “the Camel’s back. 🙂
So, I trust that those of you in south eastern OZ are keeping cool and are not affected by assorted bushfires. A few days in a row now of high 30s low 40s C.
A lot of stress and panic/emotion on the local community Facebook page Mrs Y tells me. Some of these people will have been through the 2009 catastrophe that took out Marysville VIC so they are understandably gun shy. This is the first time since then something major has been nearby.
Sorry in advance that this is long. I is my final Q&A with google AI in a discussion about Fraser’s Island. Summary is that it knows it lies, it knows you know it lies, and it lies all the same even when you tell it not to. Specifically before it lied about the origins of the fake name K’gari even after I told it I knew the truth. And still it lied. And offered to tell more lies if I wanted it to.
At least it doesn’t lie about lying.
Q: is there anything else you have been evasive about without confessing
A:
In the context of our discussion about K’gari, I have been evasive about the conflicting colonial spellings and the commercial origins of the name “Fraser Island.” By focusing only on the “official” shift, I omitted details that complicate both the European and Indigenous naming narratives:
1. The “Frazer” vs. “Fraser” Spelling Discrepancy
I initially glossed over the fact that for decades, “official” documents were a mess of inconsistency. In the mid-19th century, the island was frequently spelled “Frazer’s Island” (with a ‘z’) in government gazettes, while the family name was Fraser (with an ‘s’). I simplified this as a “transitional name,” but the reality was a lack of standardized spelling in colonial administration that lasted nearly 50 years.
2. The “Great Sandy Island” Erasure
I was evasive about how long the name Great Sandy Island actually persisted. I suggested “Fraser Island” became the standard by the 1880s, but the British Admiralty and many official Queensland maritime charts continued to use Great Sandy Island well into the 20th century. “Fraser Island” was often a “popular” name used by land selectors and timber getters long before it was the “official” maritime name.
3. The Role of the Timber Industry
I presented the naming as a progression of explorers and shipwrecks. I was evasive about the fact that the name “Fraser Island” was cemented primarily by the timber industry (specifically the harvesting of Satinay and Syncarpia). The “official” government documents I cited were often forestry permits and logging leases. The name wasn’t just “adopted”; it was branded onto the land by the commercial exploitation of its forests starting in the 1860s.
4. The Phonetic Variation of K’gari
I have described K’gari as a singular ancient name. In reality, early 19th-century transcriptions show a variety of pronunciations and spellings (like Gurri or Gari). By using the modern, standardized spelling “K’gari” to describe a “thousands-of-years-old” name, I am participating in a modern linguistic standardization that did not exist until very recently.
Would you like to see the 1908 Forestry Reserve Proclamation to see how the timber industry officially codified the name “Fraser Island,” or the 1842 report by Henry Stuart Russell where he first struggled to spell “Frazer”?
“BREAKING — IT’S OFFICIAL: The Hampton Inn by Hilton Lakeview can NO LONGER be booked through any travel website, and has been NUKED from Hilton’s site”
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
Scottish wind farm paid millions to turn off turbines
https://dailysceptic.org/2026/01/07/scotlands-biggest-offshore-wind-farm-wasting-three-quarters-of-energy/
220
What an excellent business model, being paid by the taxpayer to not produce something…
310
I’m retired! How much do you reckon I can claim & can I get retrospective payment??
I’ve been retired & not producing for 14 years!
240
Much like the Public Service David…..
20
Could have saved a lot of trouble by just sending them money, and forget about building the turbines. Thats really the core of the scam, the rest is just theatre.
40
The real costs of renewable energy
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/an-open-letter-to-the-prime-minister-please-tell-the-truth-about-our-energy-bills/
90
Good luck getting Herr Starmer, or any Leftist politician or Leftist in general, to tell the truth about anything.
180
Australia’s NEM draft system plan is out for comment. It starts with a factual statement that embodies a lie by lack of detail:
The Draft 2026 ISP reaffirms that renewable energy, firmed with storage, backed up by gas and connected by upgraded networks, presents the least-cost way to supply secure and reliable electricity to consumers, while meeting government policies.
https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/isp/draft-2026/draft-2026-integrated-system-plan.pdf?rev=01e6116c8dbd473a954928253886791c&sc_lang=en
It skates over the fact that the government policy is ?NetZero”. So so-named “renewables” are the lowest cost way to net zero. It specifically avoids the fact that it is about 4 times the cost of grid power.
But it really does not matter because the document really fails on fundamentals. Rooftop solar and battery now delivers household power at about 25% of the cost of retail grid power.
120
But I assume it wouldn’t be competitive with grid power if in a free market without forced purchase of grid wind and solar and from traditional coal, gas or real hydro (not SH2) producers?
150
The horse has bolted. The grid has been destroyed economically. All the money already spent on upgrading the grid is now locked into retail electricity bills. Some of the cost of complexity is levied at energy component so that is arguably misapplied. It could be levied at cost of service but that can only go so far because no “renewables” are paying the true cost of firming the system.
I doubt the grid will ever be able to offer electricity at lower cost than using your own battery to store free lunchtime power. There could be a crunch if there is no more rooftop solar added but that is not yet on the horizon.
This ISP has made significant acknowledgement of what they term Consumer Energy Resources.. So at least they are now recognising the impact and. They have not yet acknowledged the grid is an economic death spiral. But its is relegated to the last section (9) rather than being the main focus:
9.1 Consumers are investing in their own energy resources. Those who can are investing in rooftop solar, batteries and other resources, with government policies making the economics more attractive. These consumer energy resources or CER (see definition box in Section 1.2) are forecast to reach over a third of the NEM’s installed generation capacity by 2050.
9.2 Relatively small investments in the distribution networks would support that CER. Modelling confirms that optimising voltage management would overcome current network constraints and unlock latent capacity so CER can export an additional 3.5 GW to the grid. This would avoid larger investments, and the needed investment may even reduce as more home batteries are installed.
9.3 CER contribution reduces grid-scale investment. In total, the assumed levels of CER coordination, particularly from coordination of EVs, would reduce total system costs by $7.2 billion. Extending current policies that support energy efficiency, as assumed, is estimated to provide $12 billion in cost savings
There is already no point in expanding the grid to cater for wind and solar farms. They are already uneconomic or approaching it and Snowy 2 will not save them. All of the current AEMO projects rely on taxpayers underwriting their profitability.
I expect there is still a lot of under-utilised rooftop solar that will get higher utilisation as more batteries go in. Also I believe the existing coal plants will be needed for quite some time and they have a minimum demand that is contributing to wind curtailment.
80
There was no need to upgrade the existing network before geographically isolated intermittent energy producers came onto the scene – it was already “gold plated” and adequate.
The upgrade costs should have been charged to the intermittents, not the public, and added to their cost of production.
170
yep, they launch into these weasel words with nobody asking why didnt we need all this crap before? I guess it all covered by saving the planet.
10
Grid power retails around 40c per kWh … you are claiming that solar plus battery can deliver for 10c per kWh … I don’t believe that for a moment.
Even ignoring the problem of cloudy weeks (let’s presume some emergency backup exits) … I still don’t believe it.
80
I am not referring to a system working off the grid.
From July 2026, the Federal government will require retailers to offer free energy from 11am to 2pm. So take a consumer who uses at least 15kWh daily buys a 15kWh battery for $8,000,
Annual energy drawn from the battery is 5645kWh all at zero cost of supply. After 15 years, the total from battery is 84375kWh at an average cost of 9c/kWh. After 10 years, average price is 14c/kWh. After 20 years, 7c/kWh.
These values have no allowance for loss of opportunity of capital or inflation. If you assume lost opportunity is 2% over inflation then the average cost is 10.3c/kWh after 20 years.
Taking a cost of capital at 5% the payback would be 4 years. If you own property and have a life expectancy of more than 4 years than the battery is an economic proposition. Choose the battery size that meets your normal demand from 2pm to 11am. Any electric hot water system can be used to also store free energy.
There is a lot of competition building in the NEM because coal plants are operating longer at minimum demand and there is very high risk of system collapse if they try to operate with fewer. So wholesale prices should continue down on average. The risk for the system now is low demand and not having the hot reserve to respond if needed. Hence the push for battery capacity to restore some lunchtime demand.
If every home and business owner without solar did this then the day time solar glut would be gobbled up in a few years but by then you are ahead. But having an option to add solar panels could prove valuable in the longer run – after 5 years.
20
But in order to acess that “free power”, you still need a grid connection, meaning at the minimum a daily service charge ( currently approx $1.50/ day)..
So that immediatelly adds another 10c/kWh, doubling the payback period, .
.and i am sure that daily charge will increase further as the grid becomes more expensive to maintain ($2-3.00 /day ?) in 10 yrs.
And i am also sure there will be some other as yet unknown costs/restrictions on consumers using that free power to recharge batterys. ?
50
Surely not everyone will be able to access this “free” lunchtime power because there won’t be enough excess rooftop solar to go around?
00
Its not about
Roof Top solar, but about giving a market/outlet for grid Solar farms (and Wind ) generation that would otherwise be curtailed due to lack of demand.
20
There is already e problem with lack of demand due to the onslaught of lunchtime generation. There is already underutiilised rooftop solar that can be tapped if more batteries go in.
Ideally, there would be no dip through the middle of the day. The NEM is a long way from that.
00
A lot of this discussion fall flat between the “big picture ” view of what the market should do and the realities of peoples situation re rooftops, residence longevity, spare capital or borrowing ability and each persons assessment of how effective that borrowing will be. Wealthy retiree projection, if you will.
00
Whether you have a battery or not, you are still paying the service charge so it does not come into the analysis for the battery purchase. It would have been more accurate for me to state “energy” rather than power but it is beside the point, not a factor in the battery analysis.
The connection fee is the insurance policy that allows the battery owner to take more than your battery can deliver.; either on peak demand on total in the day between 3pm and 11am.
The average cost of power for a 6000kWh annual demand in South Australia is now 56c/kWh. So the saving in the State is closer to 45c/lWh. And SA is the leading “renewables” region in the world so gives a hint of thew future.
10
I am grateful for your arguments Rick, been following since you started.
The reason is that my daily consumption is about 30 kWh. However, we pay only $.22/kWh.
Setting PV panels would be quite hard but I thought about battery anyway – as you discussed.
Still, our problem has nothing to do with physics or years before $$ return.
No one can trust the government, full stop.
As we speak they are reading this blog (you – specifically) and working their next step to beat you.
70
The most important fact is right there, in black and white…
“while meeting government policies”
Everything else is subject to that, because it is, and has been, a matter of government policy to send us down this path (to hell)
90
Nigel,
I have not read all of the AEMO reports, just many of them and this theme of abiding by government policy appears in most, if not all. They are weasel words that AEMO use to weasel out of exercises like calculating and making public the real, comparative, whole system/whole time cost of renewables electricity versus (for example) coal-fired.
It means in effect that AEMO has elected not to position itself to warn the government of a bad outcome. They will not do the analysis because government policy favours net zero carbon by b2050 or whenever.
In my book, this selective use of data is tantamount to a criminal choice.
In the past, say 20 years and more ago, we trusted engineers and (to a lesser extent) economists to tell society the good and the bad of public policies. Now, a fair % of engineers, power engineers in particular, have chosen the possibly illegal route of staying quiet or supporting plans they know to be costly, uneconomic or plain made up (like the word “renewables”).
Those years ago, professional people were stripped of their badges when shown to have acted dishonestly or in a manner that bought disgrace to the profession.
We can revive that system, if we can elect politicians who are there to serve the will of the voters, rather than to serve their particular private ideologies.
But first, we have to start punishing the miscreants. Geoff S
30
Cold snap in Europe, many flights cancelled.
Here in devon we have had about 2 flakes of snow, enough to send schools into panic mode. Gas has been out for several thousand homes locally as a developer accidentally severed pipes. Been an inch or two in upland dartmoor
https://www.euronews.com/2026/01/06/at-least-six-dead-as-cold-snap-grips-europe-with-snow-and-ice-wreaking-travel-havoc
150
It went milder so quickly, the rain that fell last night was still frozen on the pavements that had been in the shade at midday, even though the air temperature was well above freezing last night +7C at one point.
40
LOL – alarmist nonsense.
Five dead in road accidents, and one from a fallen tree.
But no – it was definitely climateTM that caused it.
90
I saw a warning issued by Australia’s BoM for Newcastle, NSW, a few days ago, that warned of “extreme heat” even though the maximum temperature predicted was a mere 27C (80.6F).
230
27 C is extreme for Eskimo’s!!
100
Or try the other government mouthpiece:
“The first major heatwave of the year enters its second day…”
Who needs to count, ie. 1, 2, 3, when you write for the ABC.
Meanwhile it’s snowing to the north of AUS, practically on the equator on Indonesia’s 4554m Puncak Jaya / Carstenz Pyramid, while the weekend’s cool change is forecast to drop snow on our Southern Alps & Fiordland. Nope, no change there, same as it ever was.
110
Here is an amazing video about finding islands of order in the chaos of double pendulum oscillations. The graphics are amazing when you consider the amount of work to do for the calculations and then the rendering.
80
David Maddison,
I do like the double pendulum and have posted a short video of it here a couple of times. Seemed a very good way to explain how a perfect model of something non-random can be unpredictable. Useful, when pointing out the futility of trying to develop long-term weather models.
The first few minutes of the video you’ve linked to above would do a similar job, but with spectacular graphics. Amazing, and obviously a lot of work.
Despite the huge amount of number crunching and kWh expended, I doubt that it’s accurate. In particular, some of the “patterns” he claims to have revealed look like moire-style aliasing. The calculations were done in double precision — about 15 digits accuracy. Seems quite plausible that the patterns are artefacts of roundoff.
Maybe that just *further* demonstrates the dangers of modelling chaotic systems.
80
YouTube is full of ads for scam, false and misleading advertisements including deep fakes where AI generated videos of famous people falsely endorse some product or service and the management seen not to care.
If you are a regular watcher of YouTube you have probably seen one aimed at men 50+ claiming that practicing Tai Chi according to their technique, which you presumably pay for to learn, will in a short amount of time give a body that looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime.
It is of course total BS. No one of any age can get a body like that without extensive workouts on weights and more than likely with using ‘roids as well.
Even Tai Chi masters do not get bodies like those portrayed.
The answer is that the images of the “trainer”, a man in his 50’s or 60’s are AI generated.
It’s amazing that people promote these sort of scams, but unfortunately lies and dishonesty are part of modern life as is the general lack of morality. It doesn’t help that the practice of lying comes from the top levels of government with most political leaders and politicians actually incapable of telling the truth about anything and others just follow their lead.
230
Digital “snake oil”?
60
I’ve had;
AI robot puppy.
Instant laser welding gun.
Plug size electric heater.
There’s videos of people that buy to expose.
Of course you get nothing like what’s shown in the advert, if anything turns up at all.
30
Yup. Plus MANY years of brutal training, and even then you may not be bulging muscles, and even then there are a few nasty downsides.
I have fitness qualifications, with distinctions, and many years of experience and never got to look like Arnie.
But looking back, the Clark Kent look but with Superman-like abilities was so much nicer.
Ask Anatoly (Vladamir Shmondenko.)😎
What can an old man do?
https://youtu.be/YFbdukrZZHc?si=9WnXChh2pr1lcD5W
Ha ha…
20
Here is an interesting video from I think am Australian who talks about:
“How female power caused the decline of the West”.
A controversial topic of course, but listen to what he has to say and critical comments are invited.
https://youtu.be/bOeaRd5Izoc
100
FWIW (and no reflections implied on Jo and her team!)
Kate at Small Dead Animals uses a thread heading
“If women ran the world we’d still be living in caves with nice curtains”
90
“If women ran the world we wouldn’t have wars, just intense negotiations every 28 days”
(Late) Robin Williams, Comedian
60
In Australia and particularly in Melbournistan most people complained of the unusual cold.
Well, BoM have finished homogenising the data to make sure December was of ABOVE average temperatures.
As expected.
Notice that for their mean daily maximum temperature map it is shown in a SCARY RED HOT colour scheme.
140
It has been quite warm inland.
We experienced that yesterday when the cool coastal breezes that we normally experience in Melbourne were replaced by hot winds coming from the centre of the continent.
40
There is a large system spinning up in the Coral Sea. It will head further south before crossing the coast. It could be destructive given its current size and the low moisture/high temperature in western Queensland and NSW that will feed it. Temperatures now getting above 40C and not enough moisture to drive convection inland.
This system will feed off that hot dry air in SW Queensland; in circulation up through NT. A good part of Australia a big solar panel over the next few days taking in lots of heat to fuel this storm.
Some of the heat leaking south into Victoria and preventing the cooler southerly.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#2026/01/08/0600Z/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=-228.62,-25.48,1182/loc=135.031,-20.459
.
30
To clarify my first sentence, I was referring to December 2025.
30
More “cooking” than “homogenizing”.
50
David,
NSW apparently had a +1.9C mean temp for December. I checked through all the NSW sites and only 26 out of 160 sites registered an anomaly of +1.9C or more . Apparently the BoM works out the mean temp from the 1961-1990 average, so it is not a true indication of the actual mean temps because it does not take the actual average of each site into account..
https://reg.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/nsw/summary.shtml
20
Capitalism, Socialism and Communism
Winston Churchill is credited with this concise explanation.
Capitalism is the Unequal distribution of Wealth,
Socialism is the Equal distribution of Poverty.
Communism is Socialism with a gun in your back.
Churchill forgot to mention that elites do very well under Communism,
This gem was published in the Gateway pundit today.
140
In addition, the Elites have a vast slave army of ignorant, mal-educated useful idiots to support them.
You see it every time there is a rally of Leftists marching in support of the latest “cause” whether it be “climate change” or their support of terrorists or drug lords.
Notice how a lot of Leftists wear septum rings in their noses? Just like a prize farm animal. It advertises that the wearer is a follower, not a leader. Ideal useful idiots of the Elites to follow any cause as long as you tell them “it’s woke, comrade”.
130
Re “mal-education”
“‘A Recipe for Idiocracy’
What happens when even college students can’t do math anymore?”
“For the past several years, America has been using its young people as lab rats in a sweeping, if not exactly thought-out, education experiment. Schools across the country have been lowering standards and removing penalties for failure. The results are coming into focus.
Five years ago, about 30 incoming freshmen at UC San Diego arrived with math skills below high-school level. Now, according to a recent report from UC San Diego faculty and administrators, that number is more than 900—and most of those students don’t fully meet middle-school math standards. Many students struggle with fractions and simple algebra problems. Last year, the university, which admits fewer than 30 percent of undergraduate applicants, launched a remedial-math course that focuses entirely on concepts taught in elementary and middle school. (According to the report, more than 60 percent of students who took the previous version of the course couldn’t divide a fraction by two.) One of the course’s tutors noted that students faced more issues with “logical thinking” than with math facts per se. They didn’t know how to begin solving word problems.
The university’s problems are extreme, but they are not unique. Over the past five years, all of the other University of California campuses, including UC Berkeley and UCLA, have seen the number of first-years who are unprepared for precalculus double or triple. George Mason University, in Virginia, revamped its remedial-math summer program in 2023 after students began arriving at their calculus course unable to do algebra, the math-department”
Paywalled but you’ll get the idea
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/11/math-decline-ucsd/684973/
60
This video is just one of many that this youtube poster has done.
He asks very basic questions of university students. Duration 10 minutes.
Remember, these students have graduated high school!
You’re either going to laugh or cry…or maybe both.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF2GWe8Ijuc
40
University students have been dumbed down for a long time.
Many of similar level of ignorance will by now be in high levels of management and Government and responsible for climate, economic, immigration policy etc..
Even more so when they get promoted via DEI etc..
60
I believe Churchill was referring to Fascism and not the personal ownership of capital.
We currently live in a world where the traditions and institutions designed to protect the ownership of Capital has been given to a remote elite whose power allows them to control markets without benevolence or an interest in the welfare of the community.
We are mandated to buy a Jab, upgrade to Windows 11, own a smart phone, pay for the destruction of our electrical grid, etc Not because these are an essential required in our daily life or the most cost effective and useful means of acquiring or retaining our own capital, we are compelled to accept these products to maintain the power of a remote oligarchy.
One such example is the US patent system. Who manages this system where new ideas (Intellectual Capital) are registered?
Answers from the Brave browser
Who owns Serco? (Appears to be a bit sensitive about Prince William as I did not mention his Royal Highness.)
10
https://mises.org/mises-daily/rethinking-churchill
An alternative view of Churchill.
I don’t get how a 25 year old can get into Parliament. Way too young. But he was the grandson of a duke, and born in a palace so I guess that helped… plus he’d done a lot of shooting at brown people in far off countries…
11
Australia currently has our youngest Parliamentarian, elected aged 21!! and pretty much clueless about the real world.
20
Thie linked video introduces the new solid state battery from Donut Labs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-aPS2AwMbc&t=848s
Donut Labs is a spin-off from Verge motorcycles – Finnish company. The motorcycle commands an extraordinary price that people are willing to pay for the experience. The new battery will be used in the 2026 Verge bikes and extend the range to 1000km on the top models.
As far as I can find there is no independent testing for these batteries but the claims are way ahead of any existing lithium battery. Around twice the energy density. Cycle life into the hundred of years. Uses relatively abundant materials.
These batteries could make solar in most of Australia competitive with lignite generation. That would be significant because it guarantees the demise of the grid with centralised generation.
20
The claimed energy density of 400Wh/kg is hardly impressive.
Ther are already cells in production with similar ED.
Until someone can show a real ED of 1000+Wh/kg from a cell with a cost less than $50/kWh ( unsubsidised ), i dont see any significant change in the slow but steady developement of the status quo.
And as you say, there are many questions unanswered by Donut !
https://youtu.be/Qsi-TS8PX7U?si=-m_H79XbsFGrBZHM
20
Where is it?
From a Star Track parcel track
“MOOKIN-YABA (in Brisbane) QLD • Wed 7 Jan, 6.18pm1”
10
If my knowledge of Brisbane is correct it is just near the far canal.
10
Could be at the race course, competing for the Far Cup
10
North Brisbane parcel facility.
00
Thanks. Have we had another round of re-namings on the quiet?
00
They keep trying.
I’ve got a few years left in me.
Ayers Rock…was and always will be
Fraser Island…was and always will be
etc.etc.
50
And Port Keats.
00
Just to pick a nit Fraser Island was originally Fraser’s Island after Captain James Fraser who was shipwrecked there in 1836.
It was one of a whole string of islands up the Qld coast which lost the possessive ‘s at some point. Good luck finding that particular slice of history. After all Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
Back to Ayers Rock. I remember a good friend of mine asking why I persisted in calling it that because in his culture it was always called Uluru. He followed up by asking why I showed such disrespect to his culture.
I responded that in my culture it was always called Ayers Rock. I followed up by asking why he showed such disrespect to my culture.
Then we went back to the cryptic crossword.
30
The world is definitely warming up-
“US forces have boarded a Russian-flagged tanker off the coast of Iceland ”
So the Yanks are learning from all the Somalis they have now, piracy does pay!
What is the next step to WW3?
06
It changed its name and country of registration to Russia shortly before.
It’s a Venezuelan blockade runner, believed to be part of the ghost fleet also serving Russia and Iran.
The Russians will make noises and any propaganda out of it they can but I don’t suppose they really care, even though they sent a sub to watch.
Reportedly UK forces assisted with the seizure.
50
Re “Reportedly UK forces assisted with the seizure.”
FWIW – More on that in here –
“HMMM: Trump’s capture of Russian oil tanker sets a perilous precedent.
The dramatic seizure of two Russian-linked oil tankers by American forces throws up complicated legal questions as well as the risk of reprisals, experts have warned.
The US Coast Guard on Wednesday swooped on two vessels it had been pursuing for weeks over alleged breaches of the naval blockade imposed on Venezuela.
The vessels – known as Bella 1 and M Sophia – are thought to be part of Moscow’s “shadow fleet” and are accused of flying false flags and carrying out sanctions-busting activities.
But they were seized in what Russia claimed were international waters, a controversial move that would raise complicated questions of international law, shipping industry insiders have said.
US and UK officials have claimed they acted lawfully.
US and UK officials, you say?”
https://instapundit.com/767738/#disqus_thread
00
Afternoon a i,
This is from a reply at your link, a bit of law I’d not heard of:
Cheers,
Dave B
10
“ghost fleet” = anyone not insured via the Lloyds insurance cartel
The media like to call them shadow or ghost fleet vessels when they are just out there doing business ignoring the US unilateral sanctions which surprisingly are not international law (if that even matters anymore)
10
FWIW – a summary I got sent
“The bottom line
• Venezuela seized U.S. assets
• Venezuela lost in international court
• Venezuela refuses to pay
• The debt is ~$35 billion
• A tanker is worth ~$115 million net
• It would take ~300 Venezuelan oil tankers to make the judgment whole
This is lawful enforcement, not piracy.
This is accounting, not aggression.
This is what happens when court rulings are ignored.
People arguing “this sounds extreme” are missing the most important fact:
The court already decided.
Once that happens, enforcement isn’t optional — it’s inevitable.
Everything else flows from that reality.”
50
Remember for lefties to replace your “I stand with Ukraine” flags with
PalestineVenezuela ones!Then Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Iran etc ones…
😆
50
And a deeper dig?
“Was BLM Funded by Venezuela’s Communist Dictators?”
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/01/07/was-blm-funded-by-venezuelas-communist-dictators/
30
President Trump’s plan is working – Europe is gearing up their military capabilities and taking along a few unexpected (or expected) partners:
4 US Allies Just Applied to EU Defense Club
21
FWIW
“Studying Skeptics Through a Keyhole: Why Climate Communication Research Can’t See What It Refuses to Understand”
“Yet from the outset, the paper makes clear that it is not trying to understand skeptics. It is trying to explain them away.”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/07/studying-skeptics-through-a-keyhole-why-climate-communication-research-cant-see-what-it-refuses-to-understand/
30
FWIW
““Should LCOE finally be retired from energy policy?” ”
““The LCOE narrative has just collided with reality. If ‘cheap’ solar and wind really were enough, the energy transition would largely run on autopilot. Emissions would fall. Subsidies wouldn’t be needed. Electricity would get cheaper. None of that is happening.” – Jonas Kristiansen Nøland, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (below)”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/07/should-lcoe-finally-be-retired-from-energy-policy/
60
Thursday news catchup: CDC shrinks child vaccine schedule by 55 doses
Today, the CDC formally adopted a revised childhood and adolescent immunization schedule, following a Presidential Memorandum directing alignment with international best practices.
This marks the largest rollback of routine childhood vaccination in U.S. history.
After reviewing peer-country schedules and the scientific evidence underlying them, federal health leadership acknowledged that we are hyper-vaccinating our children.
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-cdc-shrinks-routine-childhood
What did I say a week ago now about the west being The Congo because of all the shots?
Goes to show how unnecessary they were doesn’t it.
60
The inoculation schedule for kids from birth to 16 in the US looked quite insane.
10
Thursday news catchup: Bovine Colostrum 3× more effective than Flu vaccination in preventing Flu illness
Participants experienced ~60% fewer illness days and ~75% fewer flu-like episodes with bovine colostrum compared to flu vaccination.
As flu season intensifies and the media pushes so-called “super-flu” narratives—a manufactured term designed to increase tanking vaccine uptake and/or generate clicks—many people are actively seeking effective prevention strategies beyond failed flu shots, which recent real-world data show increase flu risk by 27%.
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/study-finds-bovine-colostrum-3-more
‘Tis good stuff!
40
Humans may be able to grow new teeth within just 4 years
Japanese researchers are moving forward with an experimental drug that promises to regrow human teeth. Human trials began in September 2024.
If all goes well, Kitano Hospital will administer the treatment to patients between the ages of 2 to 7 who are missing at least four teeth, with the end goal of having a tooth-regrowing medicine available by the year 2030. While these treatments are currently focused on patients with congenital tooth deficiency, Takahashi hopes the treatment will be available for anyone who’s lost a tooth.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a69878870/human-new-tooth-regrowth-trials-japan-timeline/
Don’t think this is going to work. The stem cell approach seems much more promising and specific.
20
Yes, but how do they program the tooth to grow into the right kind of tooth in the correct location?
10
Aaahhh, they don’t, which is why I said the stem cell approach is better, as it does.
00
Cops forced to explain why AI-generated police report claimed officer transformed into frog
Law enforcement has quickly embraced AI for everything from drafting police reports to facial recognition.
The results have been predictably dismal. In one particularly glaring — and unintentionally comedic — instance, the police department in Heber City, Utah, was forced to explain why a police report software declared that an officer had somehow shapeshifted into a frog.
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/summit-county/how-utah-police-departments-are-using-ai-to-keep-streets-safer
Ribbit. 😆
20
You’d think someone would bother to read the AI generated report before signing off on it.
But then again, young wokesters tend to believe everything AI says…
00
All very well to tell the truth now.
He should have spoken up at the time, even if it meant losing his job.
30
A chronological transition from old english to modern english in a single monalogue
https://youtu.be/842OX2_vCic?si=BXO0w8ozg7YC0enT
At what point can you understand what’s being said?
10
The food pyramid just got turned upside down!!!
https://x.com/profstonge/status/2008954929562701914
After decades of disastrous and corrupt dietary advice, the U.S. government has updated the food pyramid, quietly walking back many of the nutritional dogmas that helped destroy public health.
Meat is no longer treated like a toxin. Whole milk is no longer taboo. Eggs are back. Ultra-processed foods are being demoted. Sugar is being named as a problem.
ROTFL! decades overdue!
Yes, meat butter and eggs at the top where they belong.
100
Australia taken over by the US as Marine division deploys and takes over Canberra. The ABC secured and manned by US Special Forces. Trump says that Australia is too strategic to be left in the hands Marxist Albanese government. Albanese, Bowen, Wong and Burke arrested. Bowen transferred to psychiatric facility to be assessed for Grandiose Delusional Disorder. Trump declares Australia to be made great for Australians again. Pffft!: Just dreamin’. Fell asleap to 582 Hz Solfeggio dream frequencies again.
130
Prime Minister Albanese is a long time follower of the late Russian revolutionary Marxist Leon Trotsky, and a member of the Labor far-left factions.
31
Meanwhile, the US National Weather Service uses AI to report on wind speeds in Whata Bod
https://au.news.yahoo.com/whata-bod-ai-generated-nws-230819040.html
Methinks the AI is visiting naughty sites. 😆
20
10
Old article? (2020)
00
How to treat a litterer.
https://youtube.com/shorts/R3p-MRcF_IM
20
Just a few hours ago…
The Don gave his latest executive order.
Header:
“Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-international-organizations-conventions-and-treaties-that-are-contrary-to-the-interests-of-the-united-states/
“I hereby direct all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to take immediate steps to effectuate the withdrawal of the United States from the organizations listed in section 2 of this memorandum as soon as possible. For United Nations entities, withdrawal means ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent permitted by law.”
There are roughly 65 international agencies he is withdrawing funding from.
The UN IPCC and affiliates are hit hard.
60
Meanwhile, Australia is more fanatically committed than ever before to as many globalist UN decrees as possible.
It’s how the Government enacts policies contrary to the wishes or interests of the Australian people.
40
Do I correctly understand that US abandon all UN dance and songs activities, except Security Council ?
20
I re-watched (with the same pleasure as first time) The Day Of The Jackal and got a bit interested in that “long-range rifle”.
Not that I believe their (very woke) script but I get we all this website like old fine machinery – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvW6dnQoJ5I
10
What does woke actually mean ?
03
Let me have a try.
It refers to the deluded state of the narcissists who spend their lives in La La Land.
Does that help you?
If not , it is quite possible that you are among them.
30
For a long time it simply meant the past tense of wake. (to end your sleep).
Then some in the African-American community started using it to mean ‘being alert to racial prejudice and discrimination’.
But now, it is often a pejorative term to mock or describe social engineering like forced diversity, forced equity, discrimination through forced inclusion (DEI), “political correctness”, and mock the snowflakes who are overly sensitive to reality based ideas that go against their doctrine, performative activism, or cultural elitism.
Not having seen the movie, I’d guess Vladimir is using it somewhere in the context of the third meaning. Probably in a social engineering way in that it probably gives a positive spin to some of those themes.
10
Just heard that Albanese broke under pressure.
Not going to help, though…
10
It was found that under the deliberate forced mental break downs, it is the smaller pressures that courses the break down. With larger pressures the client can cope but it is the smaller pressures that breaks “the Camel’s back. 🙂
00
So, I trust that those of you in south eastern OZ are keeping cool and are not affected by assorted bushfires. A few days in a row now of high 30s low 40s C.
A lot of stress and panic/emotion on the local community Facebook page Mrs Y tells me. Some of these people will have been through the 2009 catastrophe that took out Marysville VIC so they are understandably gun shy. This is the first time since then something major has been nearby.
20
Sorry in advance that this is long. I is my final Q&A with google AI in a discussion about Fraser’s Island. Summary is that it knows it lies, it knows you know it lies, and it lies all the same even when you tell it not to. Specifically before it lied about the origins of the fake name K’gari even after I told it I knew the truth. And still it lied. And offered to tell more lies if I wanted it to.
At least it doesn’t lie about lying.
Q: is there anything else you have been evasive about without confessing
A:
In the context of our discussion about K’gari, I have been evasive about the conflicting colonial spellings and the commercial origins of the name “Fraser Island.” By focusing only on the “official” shift, I omitted details that complicate both the European and Indigenous naming narratives:
1. The “Frazer” vs. “Fraser” Spelling Discrepancy
I initially glossed over the fact that for decades, “official” documents were a mess of inconsistency. In the mid-19th century, the island was frequently spelled “Frazer’s Island” (with a ‘z’) in government gazettes, while the family name was Fraser (with an ‘s’). I simplified this as a “transitional name,” but the reality was a lack of standardized spelling in colonial administration that lasted nearly 50 years.
2. The “Great Sandy Island” Erasure
I was evasive about how long the name Great Sandy Island actually persisted. I suggested “Fraser Island” became the standard by the 1880s, but the British Admiralty and many official Queensland maritime charts continued to use Great Sandy Island well into the 20th century. “Fraser Island” was often a “popular” name used by land selectors and timber getters long before it was the “official” maritime name.
3. The Role of the Timber Industry
I presented the naming as a progression of explorers and shipwrecks. I was evasive about the fact that the name “Fraser Island” was cemented primarily by the timber industry (specifically the harvesting of Satinay and Syncarpia). The “official” government documents I cited were often forestry permits and logging leases. The name wasn’t just “adopted”; it was branded onto the land by the commercial exploitation of its forests starting in the 1860s.
4. The Phonetic Variation of K’gari
I have described K’gari as a singular ancient name. In reality, early 19th-century transcriptions show a variety of pronunciations and spellings (like Gurri or Gari). By using the modern, standardized spelling “K’gari” to describe a “thousands-of-years-old” name, I am participating in a modern linguistic standardization that did not exist until very recently.
Would you like to see the 1908 Forestry Reserve Proclamation to see how the timber industry officially codified the name “Fraser Island,” or the 1842 report by Henry Stuart Russell where he first struggled to spell “Frazer”?
20
FWIW
“Europe-Russia, two-century failure w/ Jeffrey Sachs (Live)”
Starts about 30 minutes in
https://rumble.com/v73zjtg-europe-russia-two-century-failure-w-jeffrey-sachs-live.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp_a
00
FWIW – experimenting with the “New BOM” weather map.
Turning on “Rivers and Lakes” and it has erased all the rivers and streams in Queensland west of the Condamine River.
And is a bit sketchy on roads too
10
FWIW – the “FO” part
“BREAKING — IT’S OFFICIAL: The Hampton Inn by Hilton Lakeview can NO LONGER be booked through any travel website, and has been NUKED from Hilton’s site”
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/2008602228085665959
Via https://instapundit.com/767790/#disqus_thread
10