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
A couple of NetZeroWatch videos by retired journalist Colin Brazier.
(1) How fossil fuels freed us and gave us prosperity, whilst netzero will take it all away again.
(2) The cult of net zero.
https://youtu.be/7yBPb5geE_I
https://youtu.be/7yDaRZVTcVE
131
Ain’t that the truth !!
71
Somewhat long but anyway,
Few weeks ago (a bit presumptuously… ) I sent wrote to Senator M. Roberts :
Dear Senator M. Roberts,
I would like to express my concern about the growing use of the term “Net Zero.” It is now employed across all sides of the public debate as a catch-all expression suggesting direction, purpose, and the supposed effectiveness of energy conservation, sustainable development, and other broadly progressive measures. In my view, this represents a deliberate shift that obscures clear, measurable parameters and manipulates public perception.
Not long ago, we were told that the term “Global Warming” was too simplistic, and so it was replaced with the more sophisticated and comprehensive concept of “Climate Change.” Even this, however, does not align neatly with the explicit target of the UNFCCC, which focuses on limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 °C. Staying with plus 1.5 deg C, not plus/minus some degrees will indicate success of all efforts of humanity and Billions invested into renewable energy projects.
This UN document specify limiting the temperature rise, not temperature change – which makes the term Climate Change plainly wrong.
Against that background, the widespread adoption of “Net Zero”—a term that no longer directly refers to any specific physical quantity—is a concerning attempt to replace tangible, scientifically measurable indicators with a vague, politically flexible slogan.
Moreover, even people who are not technically trained still retain a clear and intuitive understanding of temperature: one degree, two degrees, and so on. They often have simple, independent means of perceiving and verifying such changes in daily life. Net Zero, by contrast, is a purely statistical construct — understood by only a tiny fraction of the population, and impossible for ordinary citizens to verify in any practical sense. This creates a situation in which even wildly inaccurate data, in either direction, can be presented to the public without any meaningful ability for society to cross-check or challenge it.
May I respectfully suggest that you make a deliberate policy to call Global Warming as it is and do not use term Net Zero.
Yours…
A native speaker could have said it with half as many words and twice the logic but the answer (of 16 Feb) should be of interest to others:
… Regarding your concerns over the use of the term “Net-Zero”, I can certainly see where you are coming from, and I will relay your perspective to the rest of the team. That said, at this stage we are likely to disagree slightly. I will try my best to explain why.
You are correct about the widespread adoption of “Net-Zero”, and to a degree correct about the complex, statistical nature the term carries and the often opaque way it is used in politics. However, we would not necessarily agree that the term is too confusing for the Australian public to grasp in a practical sense.
“Net-Zero”, at its core, is a statement of intention, a declared end-goal around which governments are restructuring energy markets, taxation systems, infrastructure planning, land use, agriculture, and industry. It has become the most widely recognised political shorthand for this entire policy agenda. Whether in Parliament, the media, corporate boardrooms, or international forums, “Net-Zero” is now the umbrella term used to justify decisions affecting Australians’ daily lives.
While many Australians may not understand the technical accounting mechanisms behind emissions offsets, carbon credits, or international reporting frameworks, they are far from naïve. People can and do put two and two together. They see power bills rising. They see food prices increasing. They see farmland locked up, forests cleared for industrial renewable projects, transmission lines cutting through private property, and productive industries burdened with additional costs, all explicitly justified in the name of “Net-Zero”.
In that sense, whatever “Net-Zero” technically means within bureaucratic frameworks, in the public mind it has come to represent the driving force behind policies that are making life more difficult and more expensive. When we speak about “Net-Zero”, Australians understand that we are pointing to the government’s insistence on pursuing this agenda, often at the expense of affordability, reliability, and national sovereignty.
For that reason, the term is politically effective. It is the language governments themselves have chosen. It is the banner under which the policy program operates. By using it, we are not endorsing its premises; rather, we are directly challenging the agenda as it is publicly branded and sold.
We do, however, agree with you on a broader point about language. The shift from “Global Warming” to “Climate Change” did soften and broaden the framing. “Climate Change” is undeniably a more elastic and less falsifiable term. In politics, language is rarely neutral. Words are selected carefully to persuade, reassure, or obscure. Unfortunately, that is the arena in which policy debates now take place. We must work with the vocabulary that dominates the public square if we are to communicate effectively.
In short, while we understand your preference for more physically explicit terminology, we believe that using “Net-Zero” allows us to confront the policy program head-on in terms the public already recognises and associates with the consequences they are experiencing.
… etc,..
Why I show this correspondence here?
I can not even imagine under what strain the PHON office operated last week but they found time to reply with obviously well considered letter, rather than just insert my email address into.., well most of you had those replies…
So!
They are different, they deserve our help.
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I am fortunate to have gone to school before the Left totally infested and dumbed-down the education system and I also had excellent pro-science, pro-reason, pro-education, pro-Western Civilisation teachers.
Students were taught all sorts of things about just about everything, back in the day. Science, history, mathematics, ecology, Ice Ages, English language and literature, the revolution in modern materials (e.g. about plastics and experiments making casein from milk), space exploration, the sun, arts and crafts, etc.. Everything.
I even remember being taught about osmosis in Grade 3 and the class did experiments with semi-permeable membranes and salt and sugar solutions, experiments with friction between various materials, and experiments with growing plants in soil missing various trace elements. In Grade 1 I remember wiring up simple electrical circuits of light bulb, switches and battery. In year 7 we did metal and wood work and made things using lathes. We built electronic circuits. Incompressible by today’s “education” standards.
And among the things we were taught were the sources of energy and the Industrial Revolution. I remember making as a Grade 6 class project a rideable but unpowered model of Stephenson’s Rocket (an innovative steam locomotive of 1829). Made with wood, cardboard and billy cart (US/UK=soapbox racer) wheels.
Nowadays kids come home from school, even expensive private ones, having been taught absurdities like supposed anthropogenic climate change is going to cause all the plants and animals to die, or other absurdities such as you can change gender.
I once had to counsel and educate a friend’s kid because she came home from school crying after being taught scary stories about “climate change”.
My Grade 5 teacher is still alive and I chat to him. He is appalled at what has become of the modern education system in Australia.
301
To further your comments about absurdities, just on the news that some group wants the dangers of “HEAT” to be added to the school curriculum . Apparently heatwaves are now the cause of most deaths from natural disasters in Australia. Wow, who woulda thunk it! No numbers of course, no definitive data, just a statement that heatwaves cause more deaths than fires, floods, winds, etc. All sounds good, what will it achieve, probably nothing more than more bureaucracy.
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My 1960s Queensland state primary school. a one-teacher school in the bush, taught me so much more than even year 12 “graduates” seem to be taught today.
Mind you, country kids living on a farm just had to absorb so much more about the world around them even before going to school.
When incoming university students need to have remedial english classes you know something is just not working in the school system.
170
Our Senior chem prac included the production of absolute alcohol
120
DM,
Off thread, but did you mention recently a Sony home Hi-Fi music and video system? For over 20 years now, coupled to a set of rather expensive speakers, I have enjoyed beautiful sound from this gear:
Sony Digital Audio Video Control centre.
Sony FM Stereo FM-AM Reciever STR-DE 598.
plus
Sony DVD Recorder RDR-HDC 100
Is this anything like your system?
Geoff S
10
Just read the claim of Budj Bim, Lake Condah 6 000 year old fish farm.
Is that true or “slight” exaggeration?
20
Morning Vlad,
I’ve read about such traps in that area previously, and have no problem in accepting that dating, but didn’t keep any links to support it.
I think some were used to trap eels also.
Cheers,
Dave B
50
There’s a big difference between trapping fish, which even the most primitive peoples did, and ‘farming’ them.
111
I like the projection from “fish trap” that becomes “fish farm” and aquaculture. Some other examples, looking at the stars and naming a couple of patterns, the world’s first astronomers. A Quick Look at the Federal Dept of Agriculture reveals in their blurb that indigenous people practiced “agriculture” for thousands of years before white settlement. No information of what, where or how, just the claim. Oh well.
150
Bro, the Maori obviously taught them (on their way to discovering Antarctica) because as we’re told, indigenous Maori were agriculturalists, artisans & astronomers even before they departed Hawaiki or Easter Island or Tahiti or Taiwan or wherever they sailed from: we’re all boat-people on this watery planet, chur!
70
I know almost nothing about Australian aboriginal agricultural history, but in the Americas there were large agricultural civilizations before Europeans arrived. The South American Incas in particular had some pretty advanced techniques like terracing and irrigation and in North America the Mississippian culture was also well on the way to developing cities surrounded by rural farms to feed the population and allow specialization to develop. Sadly, most of the agricultural civilizations collapsed after 1st contact with Europeans and reverted back to being nomadic hunter/gatherers, most likely due to Eurasian diseases wiping out 90% of the population in the time between 1st contact and colonization.
That said, for some weird reason, even though they had developed a calendar and made some astronomical observations and were well on the road to an agricultural society, for some reason they never managed to invent the wheel. Such a weird ‘miss’ in their technological development. Ditto for their complete lack of metallurgy. They were developed in some areas and stone age savages in others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_agriculture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippian_culture
40
I have been taken fishing from the shoreline among Mangrove trees near to the Mary and Susan Rivers flowing into the Fraser Island Sandy Strait from the mainland, fishing for Flathead as the tide receded. There were some stone structures nearby, Aboriginal fish traps designed to allow the receding tide to flow away leaving fish stranded.
That is not a fish farm
50
Oh it’s all true. I know because I personally made it all up a few years ago.
Just wait until I tell you about the freeways which took the fish past the skyscrapers to market at the international airports.
The little known crowning achievement of course was the construction of the pyramids in Egypt.
And all without any centrelink benefits.
Psst. Don’t tell anybody but they are the space aliens I keep telling you about.
Edit: I may have exaggerated a little in some bits.
110
“Traps” were established in various places. Anything that makes food easier to catch / collect would be employed where practical.
Here’s a short video about the traps at Brewarrina, on the Barwon River (NSW, not the Vic Barwon).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF_Nvgu8MqM
The indigenous person describing things says, “Our old people used to teach us. We don’t own the fish traps, we belong to it. We don’t own the river, we belong to it. We don’t own the land, we belong to it. And our duty is to keep all that old talk going and sharing all that history.”
So I guess we can change acknowledgement of country to be “the traditional belongers”.
80
That is the whole answer :
a) Maori Chiefs knew “this land is my land”, told that to English and signed Waitangi Treaty;
b) First Nation people knew “we are the land”, said so to new comers who believed them and wrote Terra Nulls at the gates.
20
a) Maori Chiefs knew if one Moari Chief was able to access guns they were toast so they sought the protection of the English Crown and signed Waitangi Treaty;
b) First Nation people knew “we are sick of continuously fighting with each other over the feast and famine of the Australian bushfoods”. They said to newcomers may I share them ships biscuits, fish hooks and salted foods and from there they went off together to fight the battle against the land of drought and flooding rains.
This was generally going well until the state wielded the weapons of welfare and avarice to create welfare dependant ghettos and make slick city carpetbaggers and the communists marching through the institutions wealthy banging on about ‘terra nullius’.
Norman Tindale did great work in recording the fact the old people knew what land belonged to which cohort, who these people were and what their languages and customs were so that this history could not fade and the lie of terra nullius sank into the red sands.
There! I suggest other answers from the stories of the ‘old people’, not relying on the re-writing by the guilt industry and the [aboriginals with more European genes] who butchered the old people’s stories and did not accept that those people had the brains to ditch the brutality and hardship of subsistence living.
[Edited, due to Section 18C. – Jo]
40
Thanks Jo,
I was actually speaking about people without any genetic link whatsoever. My understanding is to quote an official site – AIATSIS:
The point I was making are people without a genetic link to the original inhabitants are particpating in story-telling. I acknowledge this group of people are officially entitled to tell whatever story they like as a First nations person if they believe they are entitled to do so.
10
No. All parts of the “tripartite” test need to be satisfied. It’s not just any one of the three.
If not of biological descent then they are not entitled to the classification of Australian Aboriginal by just believing they are entitled.
30
What, you mean it’s not like ‘gender’?
70
I actually remember building some fish traps while camping as a child. I believe these are in an area where the traps are now considered ‘First Nation’. I would suggest it would have been logical 6000 years ago to trap fish in tidal pools with a ring of rocks as it was for us as children. I believe the local hermit was also tending fish traps possibly of his own making. No doubt cyclones and tsunamis would have meant these traps required maintenance, re-location or replacement in a six thousand year time frame.
I also remember the huge and intricate Bora Rings we as children constructed beside rivers out west and not to mention more recently teaching my children how to do ochre hand prints on cliffs in one of our national parks.
There is so much wrong with the current spoken history. There is no doubt the various waves of migration to this country are represented by relics such as the fish traps. The problem is the written evidence of those people is being ignored and replaced by the new ‘story telling’. The local chap with a very Welsh name who took up making sounds with poly pipe as a kid told me after a performance on a hollow stick, that he did not know his heritage. He understood from his Aunties that he possibly had distant Kanaka relatives. Fifteen years later he is now a wealthy leader of the local tribe and creating new words for government services his ‘Not for Profits’ dispense. This is obviously a fairly activist group as we have been subjected to groups turning up at any public celebrations to take the microphone and perform ‘Welcome to Country’. This morphed into demanding hats are removed at Australia Day and a minutes silence observed for all the warriors massacred in the invasion.
The ‘Poor Bugger Me’s’ were left hanging this year with no local Australia Day ceremony for our new citizens. I wonder what they did without the free food and cold beers? In the good old days on the Plantation a ‘fictional’ account recounts the Kanakas borrowing the gun to hunt ‘Man of the Bush’. Maybe that was the massacre with a side order of chewing cane we are told to remove our hats for?
And now we are being steered towards centralised data centres and controlled search engines, as the books, photos and records slowing disappear in house fires, library, church and museum closures. We will be left with a clean and approved history that can be changed with the push of a button.
Not much awe, mystery or excitement to be found in old pages for those generations that follow.
120
>If not of biological descent then…
>>… it’s not like ‘gender’?
Like gender, it depends who you ask.
Like gender, race is now merely a social construct.
(Depending on who’s asking and who’s answering, that is).
30
Thanks, David.
I suspect that “factual proof” amounts to stone-laden walls of water channels.
For whatever reason – fish traps or other natural needs.
To me it proves that whoever did it was there for a longish time.
20
A quick look at Wikipedia shows
Hunter-Anderson, R. (1984). “Yapese Stone Fish Traps”. Asian Perspectives. 24 (1): 81–90. doi:10.2307/42928049. ISSN 1535-8283.
The present study was carried out to document the various kinds of indigenous traps and fishing gears used in 20 river systems covering three districts of North Malabar region of Kerala.
Traditional Fish Traps and Indigenous Fishing Devices of North Malabar Region of Kerala January 2018 Authors: Swathi Lekshmi Perumal Sundaram
Stone fish traps, also known as weirs, have a long history in Asia, dating back to the Neolithic age. In Penghu, Taiwan, there are over 570 stone fish weirs, with the Twin-Heart Stone Weir being the most famous.
One of the most notable examples of ancient fish traps in Africa are the Stilbaai Tidal Fish Traps located in the Western Cape of South Africa.
Stone fish traps, also known as weirs, have a long history in Asia, dating back to the Neolithic age. These traps were built using stones or wooden posts and utilized tidal movements to catch fish. In Penghu, Taiwan, there are over 570 stone fish weirs
Obviously the aborigines imported them from China (Taiwan).
20
FWIW
“Epstein Neck Mark Looks Like Small Cord, not Sheet.”
“A Mortician Looks At Epstein Photo”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2026/02/15/epstein-neck-mark-looks-like-small-cord-not-sheet/
40
FWIW
Willis E has a look at sea level rise acceleration –
“I came across a most interesting study about the claimed acceleration in sea levels. For fifty years, we’ve been told that global warming would cause the rate of sea level rise to accelerate. The theory was that increasing temperatures would both cause the ocean water to expand and would also melt land ice and glaciers. Both of these would combine to cause acceleration in the rate of sea level rise.
The study in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is entitled A Global Perspective on Local Sea Level Changes.
From the abstract (emphasis mine):”
“We used two datasets with local sea level information all over the globe. In both datasets, we found approximately 15% of the available sets suitable to establish the rate of rise in 2020.
Geographic coverage of the suitable locations is poor, with the majority of suitable locations in the Northern Hemisphere. Latin America and Africa are severely under-represented. Statistical tests were run on all selected datasets, taking acceleration of sea level rise as a hypothesis.
In both datasets, approximately 95% of the suitable locations show no statistically significant acceleration of the rate of sea level rise. The investigation suggests that local, non-climatic phenomena are a plausible cause of the accelerated sea level rise observed at the remaining 5% of the suitable locations.
I laughed out loud when I read this. Why? Because for the last fifteen years, I’ve been saying the same thing. Here are my past posts on the subject, along with an AI summary of each one. When I collected them all up, I was surprised at how many analyses I’d written on the question”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/02/16/wuwt-leads-the-way-again/
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Robert Duvall passed away, 15 Feb.. Age 95.
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
30
Pity not many people saw Assassination Tango (2003) which is much deeper that many “famous” movies.
20
FWIW – Today’s Coffee and Covid newsletter
“GRAS (Generally Recognised As Safe” food category under fire
“MAHA has officially gone mainstream. Note these numbers, they’ll be important later: 10,000 vs. 400. Last night, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired a pro-MAHA segment with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., tearing Big Food a new evacutory aperture. Later last evening, CBS ran a story that —shockingly— didn’t compare Kennedy to a Third Reich warlord, headlined, “RFK Jr. says ultraprocessed food manufacturers hijacked GRAS ‘loophole’ to use questionable ingredients.”
““RFK Jr. says ultraprocessed food manufacturers hijacked GRAS ‘loophole’ to use questionable ingredients.” ”
And
“Follow the science! My goodness, what can’t coffee do? Last week (on Michelle’s birthday), the gold-standard Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) released a breakthrough study titled, “Coffee and Tea Intake, Dementia Risk, and Cognitive Function.” It was even good news for our beloved but deluded tea-drinking friends. (Well, real tea, anyway. Not that fruity stuff.)”
But not if decaffinated
More at
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/modestly-monday-february-16-2026?
40
another an:
Good news for me as I drink my tea (from Nepal and not decaffeinated) and brewed. Unfortunately I rely on SA Water.
00
I have been reading some of the publicly available submissions to the AEMO’s draft ISP 2026.
This is the South Australian Chamber of Minerals & Energy
https://www.sacome.org.au/uploads/1/1/3/2/113283509/sacome_aemo_2026_draft_isp_submission_final_13.02.26.pdf
They make the statement:
Reading that you would expect the wholesale demand in SA to be rising strongly. Reality is quite different. The annual peak consumption occurred way back in 2010 at 14483GWh. Last year it was down to 11394GWh.
So this is the pitch for more transmission lines:
If wind and solar firmed by battery was the lowest cost, why would they need more transmission lines?
South Australia is heading toward the Rube Goldberg of electricity grids.
50
I also found this succinct submission from IEEFA – A USA based energy consultancy.
https://ieefa.org/resources/submission-aemo-draft-2026-isp-consultation
IEEFA’s key comments on AEMO’s draft ISP are outlined below. Further detail can be found in the following pages.
The draft ISP’s household battery assumptions are already materially outdated. IEEFA strongly recommends that AEMO revise its residential battery forecasts for the final core 2026 ISP scenarios.
IEEFA recommends that AEMO expand its explanation of flexible coal plant operations.
IEEFA recommends that AEMO undertake further analysis of data centre loads and the potential for flexibility.
IEEFA recommends that AEMO expand its discussion of gas generation outcomes.
AEMO’s demand-side factors statement is a welcome addition but the modelling undertaken relies on limited data – further data and transparency would be of benefit.
IEEFA recommends that AEMO consider modelling consumer energy resources (CER) coordinated via better tariff signals.
This is the full submission:
https://ieefa.org/sites/default/files/2026-02/IEEFA%20submission_AEMO%20draft%20ISP.pdf
It is the closest I have seen to reality.
In my mind, why would the government subsidise anything more on the grid if they truly believed that battery firmed solar was the future. Your whole focus would be on minimising the cost of distributed solar and battery.
It is quite clear that the diversity fairy takes annual leave in Australia.
50
I take it you’ve seen the news that SA ran out of batteries on Jan 26 near midnight. The household batteries (or those joined to the grid) had run out earlier (that day had reached 40C) and the Big Battery was out of juice. Victoria had its own problems with a hot day also, so exporting electricity to SA was ??? fortunately NSW hadn’t had a hot day so could give some coal-fired electricity to Vic, who (grudgingly) supplied some. Along with the desalination plants (diesel but only run to keep then in good repair) along with some diesel elsewhere SA scrapped through.
With an election coming in March the SA Government has been ‘reluctant’ to mention this nor the cost of electricity being over (the supposed) of $2,000 per MWh for 2 hours..
.
[link added https://wattclarity.com.au/articles/2026/01/how-close-to-empty-did-south-australias-utility-scale-battery-fleet-run-last-night/ – Raquel]
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Why didn’t the coal fired power station generators provide back up?
Maybe because the SA Government shut them down and demolished them to stop any future government from using them?
sarc
20
They tell lies RickWill, simple as that. On my regional local radio station (Victoria) a couple of years ago, there was a spokesperson for Vic Grid. VicGrid is the primary quasi government body responsible for coordinating the planning and development of Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) and transmission infrastructure. He was talking up the need for more wind installations and also transmission lines in a “soft” interview. He made this comment “the state will run out of electricity unless these new transmission lines are built”. I nearly drove off the road in amazement at the brazen porky he had just uttered.
70
Do you remember when Labor PM Julia Gillard 2009-2011, and then the Rudd-Gillard Labor Renewable Energy Target 32% legislated, commented in surprise when told that every wind turbine installation location needed a transmission line to the main transmission lines, and the substantial costs involved (ignoring land and environment issues), calling them “gold plated poles and wires”?
20
FWIW
“Truckers Tikka Masala, Part 2 – The Continuing Worldwide Highway Boogaloo”
“In December of 2024, I released a piece called ‘Truckers Tikka Masala’, an inquiry into the many problems associated with the very high number of migrant ‘truckers’ on North American roads, with an examination of the how and why they arrived here and parasitized the trucking industry so heavily. Though this piece has become the highest performing Substack I have ever written, it barely scratched the surface of an immense iceberg, and incidents throughout 2025 have revealed just how massive this Iceberg is – and how close the Trucktanic is to hitting it and sinking. During the writing of my book, “End of The Road – Inside The War on Truckers”, I was sending so much intel to my editor on the history of how we got here, and reading article after article about all of the crashes and carnage that have taken place in recent times, that he exclaimed that I could ‘write an encyclopedia’ on trucking, not just a book.
Books can only be so long, and so much has happened and come to my attention during and after writing it, that I feel compelled to offer more to my readers here. The deep and profoundly corrupt penetration into the North American Trucking market by outside actors is worthy of a book on its own. When placed in context with what is happening in other parts of the Anglosphere, with mass emigration out of India encouraged by Narendra Modi and his loathesome government, truckers ought to be alerted to how their own governments and media are co-operating with this madness, and actively encouraging those truckers replacement.”
More here – and Oz gets a mention
https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/truckers-tikka-masala-part-2-the?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
Via
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/02/16/dispatches-from-the-maple-gulag-truck-stop-26/
40
Same here. I was asked to train a young Punjab! driver who had EVERY CLASS imaginable ticked-off on his license: we hadn’t even left the yard and he clipped another truck… when he reversed into a bollard I ended the ‘training session’, took over driving and failed him once we were back at the office.
Management decided otherwise and he’s still there today, banging smashing denting breaking trucks (friends keep me in the loop). I quit 2 weeks after failing him (motto: Safety First).
100
Jeremy Clarkson covered this very issue almost 20 years ago.
(Love a good memory!)
https://youtu.be/xGfLNqjh4j0?si=MDmnWfd-EoRXuoFX
10
Lots of Indian agi drivers in Victoria. The lads on construction sites identify them on arrival by the damage to their trucks. The lads make sure to guide them into position and definitely don’t stand behind them.
30
Incidentally, only this morning, I had occasion to tell a brown lad in a white van to slow down in our dead-end, mostly unmade, semi-rural road. Not for the first time either.
60
Sorry Sir, my brothers are panel beaters
sarc
40
FWIW
Peak stupidity? Not yet
“How Green Is My Cult: CA Now Importing US Gas From *check notes* 4000 Miles Away”
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/02/16/annals-of-climate-cult-madness-ca-now-importing-gasoline-from-check-notes-4000-miles-away-n3811950
30
FWIW
“Toyota’s Driving Data Lawsuit Just Took a Major Turn
The plaintiff, who owns a 2021 Toyota RAV4, alleges that Toyota illegally collected his data and shared it with third parties.”
https://www.autoblog.com/news/toyotas-driving-data-lawsuit-just-took-a-major-turn
Via https://instapundit.com/776571/#disqus_thread
10
Over the years BoM has been criticised for being slow in predicting El Nino.
‘Computer forecast guidance, including Australia’s ACCESS-S model and numerous highly regarded international models, predict that El Niño may develop in the second half of this year.
‘The likelihood of El Niño emerging in the second half of 2026 ranges from above 90% from the Bureau’s model to around 50 to 60% from other international models.’ (Weatherzone)
41
What’s it called when we’re copping it from BOTH directions at the same time: Bi_Climate_Fluid? El Nono? La Slap?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news
Homepage for Pravda NZ – flood flood flood, person killed by dogs, flood flood flood, state of emergency, cold temperatures and more floods and possibly [more] snow later this week – and you know what’s getting blamed: the ‘heat’ which doesn’t exist.
12 degrees Celsius max in Dunedin, where Otago University 1st-timers are having their ‘toga party’ intro today: welcome to the Deep South 🥶 Up north I’m twice as hot – OK, 24 is twice as ‘warm’ – maybe ‘the climate’ is transitioning too…
30
Not surprised. I believe that many other countries are more accurate with their predictions, as they don’t use models from Exeter.
00
FWIW
“Voice Activated Lift | Burnistoun”
https://www.facebook.com/BBCScotland/videos/899713254837868/?fs=e&mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=6QUCs7pjtpiUTpTc#
20
The modern equivalent of “Getting Charlie off the MTA”
(Kingston Trio if you need a hint)
00
Chinese new year robotic celebration
https://youtu.be/mUmlv814aJo?si=A04TR5IeSX9Wb6Jk
A CCP production.
20
Good pick.
‘Tim Wilson set to become shadow treasurer when Angus Taylor unveils new frontbench.
‘Liberal leader expected to reward some of his conservative backers and purge Ley supporters.’ (Guardian)
11
Tuesday funnies
1. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.
7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
10. A backward poet writes inverse.
11. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
12. Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.
Thoughts for the day:
Who picks up the poo after guide dogs?
If a person who looks after goats is a herder, is someone who looks after chooks a chicken tender?
100
Since the demise of Australia in the T20 World Cup, I have been looking at adopting another team.
I thought about following the Indians from the US or the Indians from Canada or maybe the Indians from India. In the end I will just support any team playing England. Simples.
10
Mrs Y was just reading an article about how “agentic AI” was going to change the face of retail in Australia. There were long chains of buzzwords and management speak but nowhere in the whole item did it describe what the basic benefits were for the customer and why they would leap on board in their millions.
I look forward to further learning and a future ” streamlined and pain point free” customer experience.
10
” streamlined and pain point free”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_6SaqVQSw
00
FWIW – for the covid files and Oz is in it
“EVIDENCE FROM RURAL AUSTRALIA THAT THE VAX CAUSED MORE DEATHS THAN COVID ITSELF: PROOF! Excess deaths caused by COVID vaccines, not just COVID or lockdowns.”
https://okaythennews.substack.com/p/proof-excess-deaths-caused-by-covid
Via https://instapundit.com/776875/#disqus_thread
30
I think that story is still unfolding, and probably will for years
10
“I think that story is still unfolding, and probably will for years”
Not if they can keep the Epstein story going, and then invade Iran.. They will bury it somehow until after they all retire from politics!
00
It has been a warm day over 30 degrees in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria with rain forecast.
6:20pm – I’ve been watching the BOM weather map showing a rain band approaching from the north west, but my neighbour’s Aussie flag is definitely blowing from an east wind (pause)
6:30pm – Just has another look and I saw it changed about 180 degrees, west wind weather coming.
I was going to disparage the BOM, but I suppose upper level wind and ground level can be in opposition at times.
6:42pm – I have to add, it is supposed to be raining on my house now. My conclusion is that some BOM information is made up – pretend, fantasy.
Feel free to add your own adjectives:)
20
Mrs Y was wondering where the wind went today. Extreme fire danger, total fire Bans, winds forecast, Nada.
30
“I was going to disparage the BOM, but I suppose upper level wind and ground level can be in opposition at times.”
Definitely, great fun in inland NSW watching the clouds move in opposing directions some days.
20
Hmmm, well if you want to raise the sea levels. I think they may have found a way to confirm sea level rise. FFS.
00
I’m seeing the odd mention here and there (not yet in the mainstream media) about EMF levels in EVs. Unsurprisingly, they are much higher than in a conventional ‘ICE’ car. However, every site I visited when trying to find out more went to some lengths to dismiss the danger, qualifying their statement such as, “EMF levels measured at head height were within guidelines” when we know that proximity to high-power cabling, inverters, batteries and motors is the key and these components are typically located under the seat or floor. So perhaps a measurement taken by the driver’s feet or passenger’s backside might reveal a different story.
The other dubious angles taken was in comparing EMF measurement with things like hairdryers and cooktops. These were quoted to produce significant EMF, suggesting we should be more worried at home than in an EV. But of course one might spend five minutes using a hair dryer while the drive to work and back could be two hours or more.
Perhaps, ten or twenty years from now with people being affected by mysterious illnesses, this will be another one of those “Well we didn’t expect THAT.” stories. Again.
20
What matters most about EMF is the frequency, that’s why cell phones are questioned.
10
I think I read that EVs produce low frequency EMF radiation, which is more of a concern than that produced by phones, etc.
00
For those who may suspect I am a little too salty about snivel servants and the parasites that run them…
I have mentioned I applied (well, my wife applied for me because I said ‘stuff the Govt I’d rather die!’) for a pension back in Dec 2024, about a decade or more late.
A few phone calls and its always ‘just being processed’, or ‘could you send in this information’.
In this interesting game of snakes and no ladders, 20 more pages arrived today saying I have to apply for a NZ pension first, so we are back to square one. Of course my wife had questioned this right at the start, 15months back, and was told it wouldn’t matter… They say they will back-pay pensions to the date you applied, but I have this feeling the ‘application date’ will become the date after the NZ Govt refuse to pay and I have to re-apply.
Still, its better than an efficient Govt, then we would REALLY suffer!
20
Well, keep it up and the oceans will rise and they can say ‘we told you so’.
The world has gone mad, I want off, but there’s nowhere to go.
20