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
Always nice to see a ‘2030’ deadline retired: https://www.capitalbrief.com/briefing/auspay-axes-2030-retirement-target-for-becs-system-0debf38c-55c8-4bab-97cd-125ffa71f56f/
The Australian Payments Network (AusPayNet) has ditched its 2030 deadline for the retirement of the Bulk Electronic Clearance System (BECS), saying the date was no longer achievable.
…Many stakeholders have expressed a desire for resilience to feature prominently in future account-to-account system arrangements (from the link in the end of the story) …
Not discussed tho – the energy requirements of a resilient payments system….
30
Those naive to the world of industrialised science might be surprised to see that a scientific paper reporting a clinical trial was “complete” while its author was still “TBD”, but that’s the world we live in.
https://sanityunleashed.substack.com/p/publication-bias-in-action-its-worse
40
Polk County Florida Sheriff Grady Judd with IMO the best explainer you will ever find for the chaos between ICE, illegal aliens, and woke citizens in places like Minnesota. Sheriff Judd is a bit of an internet celebrity and always a fun watch, but this video is just a perfect policy description of why conservative states/cities don’t have surges of ICE enforcement trying to track down illegal aliens while woke states/cities do.
https://x.com/ReOpenChris/status/2011870971867906386
181
Fascinating link.
Thanks.
20
Well worth a watch.
10
FWIW
“Cancer Breakthrough: How Metabolic Therapy is Changing Lives”
https://youtu.be/A5ONwV1FU_c
30
FWIW
“Don’t trust your doctor . . . and the other lessons covid taught me”
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/dont-trust-your-doctor-and-the-other-lessons-covid-taught-me/
Via https://instapundit.com/769972/#disqus_thread
121
That reminds me of a discussion a while back with my GP. There was a big push on to inject people in the name of preventing shingles.
He’s a smart guy with a genuine interest in the health of his patients and enough skepticism to have a direct conversation.
I asked whether the injections were “safe and effective”. Because if you say no I am not going to have them.
On the other hand if you say yes the injections are safe and effective I will run a mile.
So the discussion moved on to:
1. did the injections involve mRNA;
2. who was behind the big push;
2. why was the push on now?
He said I should do my own research. I agreed.
151
The only thing I disagree with is calling it research. It is just reading.
Research is the exploration of new phenomena. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/frascati-manual-2015_9789264239012-en.html
30
Ok,
but the shingles injections were new to me and I was asking questions which were new to my doctor.
Does that count in your books? After all there’s not much under the sun that is really new.
20
Just trying to take back the Science for the Scientists…
Pedantic as always – no offence intended.
10
FG,
Those significantly large numbers of people who are afflicted with post herpetic neuralgia following Shingles can have devastating consequences. I am too familiar with a patient with no known cure for this intense, ever-present nerve pain (except during sleep) in her case down the left side of the face. It has lasted 13 years of miserable pain now, the only medical response being opioids several times a day. No known surgical cure.
The mornings typically start with “Can I have a pain killer now?” a few minutes after waking.
If a “vaccine” can prevent post herpetic neuralgia, please take informed advice before rejecting it. It is a serious BAD ailment.
Geoff S
10
My sympathies Geoff. And yes I am aware of the seriousness of the consequences of shingles.
And as the Conservate Woman article which started this thread was saying a loss of trust for authorities including doctors may just be the longest lasting effect of covid. So many trusted sources of advice undermined their own reputations that all government campaigns are immediately suspect.
Hence my questions to my GP. Is it safe and effective? Who is behind the big push? And why now?
My apologies to anybody who took my comment as downplaying the seriousness of shingles.
00
From Congress.gov:
“H.R.7012 – To authorize the annexation and subsequent admission to statehood of Greenland, and for other purposes.”
I wonder if the White House/Mar-a-lago Club will impose tariffs on Congress/USA if the bill does not pass?
21
>H.R.7012
Sponsored by Randy Fine, a Bibi cutout.
Since we can’t get Russia via Ukraine we’ll have to go over the top.
Arctic warfare here we come!
12
Why not? They appear to be relatively defenseless when their power grid is taken out, as Ukraine is currently demonstrating in response to Russian attacks on their power/heating infrastructure.
30
>Why not?
Because Russia fought a more successful war of attrition.
We weren’t able to get Russia via Ukraine.
Instead, Russia defeated NATO and retook those parts of Ukraine it previously held.
All the ICBMs we had stacked against Russia’s Ukraine border will now be stacked along Greenland’s northern flank just across the Arctic sea from Russia’s northern shores.
10
And he told the kids of Gaza to “starve away”.
Now that they’re freezing in tents over winter his sadistic urges get more gratification.
22
Fully agree, that was the intent – to use dog- and deer-sleds instead tanks.
Finland joined NATO, which doubled the NATO-Russian border.
Was it Trump who forced Sweden to abandon 250 years of neutrality?
Nope, Okurok!
00
A new state with a population of around 50,000. Now there’s an interesting concept.
But the idea does raise the many faceted issue of sovereignty. And that is very interesting these days as it always has been.
11
Seems to work for Liechtenstein and Monaco, but then again with enough money you can make anything work. Perhaps Elon can buy it and make it Muskland?
20
Hey Jo, not having a go but can we please stop refering to hydrocarbon fuels as fossil fuels. If they were fossil fuels, Saturn’s largest moon Titan must have had a lot of dinosaurs, it is our solar systems largest source of methane. A hydrocarbon fuel.
110
It’s an old term going back to the 1700’s where it was first used by a German chemist called Caspar Neumann, and later quoted (misused) by scientists in the contemporary sense.
The word fossil comes latin fossilis meaning having been dug up.
The use of the word fossil therefore means obtained by mining, and not a reference to the origin of the fuel. It’s a blanket term meaning fuel sources as old as the dinosaurs (which is where the modern misuse stems from), which in turn leads us into the abiotic nature of oil, a topic for another day…
Upvote for informed Phil.
Next up, Hydrogen and reality.😁
170
Yes and while we are at it the proper term for renewable energy is intermittent.
190
There is no proper term for “renewable energy” because no such energy source exists.
There are weather dependendent generators being connected to the grid but they are not renewable. I know this because the solar energy collectors on my roof are just getting older with no sign of renewing.
180
the solar energy collectors on my roof are just getting older with no sign of renewing.
The question will be: At what point will the dwindling energy output be the crossover point for replacing them with new panels? I think 90% of the original rated output is nowhere near that point. And I am getting at least that from my 13 year old panels.
A similar question relates to your normal mode of transportation, the car. How many kilometers of travel will happen before the motor needs an overhaul? And of course the answer to that question is complicated by the state of the car body (both interior and exterior), the cost and the improved (?) operating efficiency of the then current replacements.
Side thought: The currently marketed solar panels are a lot larger (physical size) than the ones produced 13 years ago. Check your roof space.
50
Doesn’t matter any more. Heard on the news this morning that Australia will develop a recycling system for solar panels to recover the rare and precious minerals they contain.
Wow, so the MSM are now suggesting that solar panels have a finite life, ipso facto they may not be such a good investment if people read the really tiny fine print.
Still, maybe we can become an international powerhouse in panel recycling. This project should be able to attract a substantial grant to get going, doesn’t really matter if it never becomes profitable. Then of course the inevitable questions:—–
1/ Where does the cheap energy come from to allow the valuable minerals to be recovered
2/ What happens to the remaining gunk that has little or no value and may well have toxic components.
90
With any technology the question of obsolescence inevitably arises.
With early computers it was the hard drive capacity or screen resolution. The new ones were going up 10-fold every few years in hard disc capacity to the point that it no longer impacts on its obsolescence. . Now it is more a question of RAM. I had to upgrade my mini desktop to 8Gb of RAM to keep it working with a few web tabs open. These days you generally need 32Gb of RAM for a reasonable desktop operation.
Phones are not much good after about 6 years.
My 2008 diesel hatchback sedan (not SUV) probably offers me better utility than any existing new vehicle. It has average 6.9l/100km throughout its life. And very low ownership cost. It is not a hoon magnet either.
Solar panels still produce above rated capacity in the morning mid summer. Modern panels probably make better use of the roof space because they are more efficient and produce better in dispersed light than my existing panels. I have no plans to replace them.
I looked carefully at some of the electrical equipment around 2012 and realised that the standby power level on a few items made them uneconomic. It took less than 12 months to recover their capital in power export when I was getting 66c/kWh. But the fridge or freezer were not much worse than the best at that time.
The evaporative cooler was no longer suited to the Melbourne climate. Probably marginal when installed in 1999 but just got worse this century. That is due to the changes in solar intensity and increased moisture over Australia in summer.
If you have a good sense of value and can do the sums then you are better placed to make good choices. Trump has an acute awareness of value.
60
Phones are not much good after about 6 years.
Especially if the telcos (err… government standards) keep adding new technology and frequencies and shutting down the older ones.
10
SMH pushing the propaganda-
“And it shows us each year as we keep burning fossil fuels the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases,…as Australia’s east coast reeled from compounding fires and floods of the sort predicted by climate scientists using, in part, data from Mauna Loa.”
Of course its all a hit piece on Trump telling us how horrible he is for threatening to end the observatory’s lease on an office and closing the GISS that was so important for the famous scientist James Hansen… Then he halted the Revolution wind project, although the author has no idea about the security precautions we saw yesterday. The good news is-
“The impacts of Trump’s attack on climate science are profound but as yet unquantifiable. Appetite for ambitious climate policy is also waning in Europe. The COP is faltering and multilateralism itself is under threat. ”
The main part is that Trump is as bad as Adolf and the fossil fuel industry is desperately fighting to stop the transition to clean, green wonderful, free renewables.
“despite an avalanche of domestic and international evidence showing that new wind and solar is the cheapest form of energy, and that it is only growing cheaper.” while our power bills just go up and up!
Anyway, in-house article so the author has to write garbage to keep his job. It makes for a propaganda war as intense as the one between NATO and Russia over Ukraine, there is nothing common or compatible between the two sides.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/global-warning-trump-s-war-on-the-planet-heats-up-20260116-p5nujj.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true
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FWIW
“ABOUT THAT RECORD CHINESE TRADE SURPLUS: It might be entirely BS.”
https://x.com/Ken_LoveTW/status/2011651831576084811
“After customs announced the “historic surplus,” Chinese media began reporting widespread export fraud across multiple provinces. Shell companies were created solely to purchase fake export data from customs brokers. These fake numbers were then used to claim local government export subsidies.
Even worse?
Local governments weren’t just tolerating this — they were encouraging it.
Why?
Because Beijing demanded that provinces “stabilize exports” at all costs. And when real exports slowed under tariffs, the only way to hit targets was to manufacture numbers.
In many regions, the incentives were explicit: export $1 → get ¥0.03 in subsidies.
Export $100 million → collect ¥3 million. No real goods required.”
More at https://instapundit.com/769859/#disqus_thread
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Their accounts dept is using the Slim Jim Chalmers model.
70
Oops! Slight typo. That should be Dim.
60
You’re lucky the government’s new hate speech laws aren’t active yet!!” Dim “ indeed!
20
FWIW – an observation
“SO THIS IS FUNNY: TRUMP ALWAYS SEEMS TO WIN IN COURTS THAT FOLLOW THE LAW: Appeals Court Just Handed the Trump Administration Major Victory in Mahmoud Khalil’s Case.”
https://instapundit.com/769970/#disqus_thread
61
Oz technology for Canada in the Arctic..
40
‘Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not “go along” with his plan to annex Greenland, increasing pressure on European allies who have opposed his effort to take over the Arctic territory.’ (Guardian)
Australia must be preparing to send in a company, in partnership with the Coalition of the Willing.
43
The Guardian doesn’t think so-
“Australia’s confidence in Trump’s US has evaporated…there will be no going back to the liberal world order even after this presidential term ends…A belief in the US’s benign nature, that the most powerful nation on Earth will act only as a force for good, has always been naive…This is a country that has armed coups, overthrown governments and launched calamitous wars based on specious intelligence. It has bullied, coerced and threatened allies and adversaries alike”
So it seems Aussies are more switched on than I thought-
“Seventy-two per cent of Australians have little or no confidence in Trump “to do the right thing”…As few as 8% of Australians are convinced Australia “shares values” with modern America,”
Generally Australia is locked onto America, and without our own sovereign power we do as America lets us. There are no plans for a world where we are separated from the USA as they get increasingly desperate and capricious to hold onto their waning world power.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/16/trump-global-world-order-us-australia-alliance
412
‘There are no plans for a world where we are separated from the USA …’
Albo has a plan to do what Canada does, open up trade with China and walk away from US treaties.
11
The Grauniad may well be onto something but I’d look for a second source. Preferably one not so antagonistic.
121
“Preferably one not so antagonistic.”
Haha.. you won’t find that anywhere in the mainstream media! Trump is bad, end of story!
70
Australians now look unfavourably on the US.
https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/report/2025/global-powers-and-world-leaders/#report
The political mood is changing rapidly and its clear China is going to be our best buddy.
012
And you still won’t tell us your China connection or interest, or the reason you promote China constantly.
Lowy polls always say what the Blob wants to hear and what the Blob Media tell Australians they are supposed to feel. Australians will always culturally be deeply aligned with the USA, not China. Not ever.
161
Its time to loosen our ties with the US, become an independent state with new alliances.
Murdoch has turned his back on Trump, this is significant.
We have been culturally aligned, but if they invade Greenland then we’ll quickly become unaligned.
Since my uni days I have had an interest in the political history of China.
26
“Its time to loosen our ties with the US, become an independent state with new alliances.”
EG, its strange, but I agree with you! We are alienating ourselves from a lot of the world by being a vassal of the USA, its time we forged our own alliances. I wouldn’t rush to be best buddies with China (said the guy with a Chinese house-guest this month!) but there are a lot of other countries we could be closer to.
Its also time we developed oil/fuel independence, and a far more capitalist economy, and a … ah, dreams are free!
11
We can stand up for ourselves, join the non-aligned movement.
BRICS is almost a certainty once Xi and Putin have departed.
00
When will the United Nations confront the terrible situation in Iran at this time?
100
After the regime falls.
51
Hi Dennis. Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:33, “Those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and go about the earth spreading mischief -indeed their recompense is that they either be done to death, or be crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off from the opposite sides or be banished from the land.”
“Mischief in the land” is a broad term in the Quran and refers to crimes that destabilize societal order and peace. So, from a strict Sharia view, it could possibly be argued that the Iranian protesters are spreading mischief. It could then follow that the Iranian authorities are applying Islamic law in the way they are dealing with these people. Some would then argue that any interference by the UN or the US is a direct attack on Islam, Islamic principles and Islamic law. Not my view at all, definitely a bit twisted, but I have heard this idea expressed on at least 2 occasions now and that the west should keep its noses out of the Islamic world.
51
“the west should keep its noses out of the Islamic world.”
That’s an excellent idea! oh wait… they have oil!
13
As long as it’s reciprocal
120
I agree, though I had a different comment in mind. What sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
50
On the other hand the Islamic world extremists are intent on dealing with all non-Muslims and our countries to force radical Islamic objectives to be adopted, or else.
100
An earlier comment suggested benefits to not having the proposed hate speech laws in place…. currently
Will we be able to comment on what constitutes “strict” Sharia?
00
Why that’s easy. The answer is never.
It is hard to identify any useful purpose served by the UN unless you think one world government would be useful.
140
They reckon they can only be peacekeepers if there’s a bit of peace to keep.
00
Weather battleground UK.
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/f1db/live/26983990-f2dd-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg
00
‘Trump’s new playbook: hit hard, scare enemies, then deal.
‘Trump has transformed from an isolationist into a globalist militarist, selectively intervening with precision strikes and deal-making to reshape America’s approach to international affairs.’ (Oz)
33
Somebody in the Oz wrote that did they?
Well surprise, surprise. Did they mention orange man bad too?
50
Yes indeed, a Murdoch rag.
04
Apologies in advance – it’s only weather.
Whatever happened to The Great NSW Heatwave [sic] of January 2026? Did the devil Carbon destroy that too – along with urban carbophobes’ wet dream of The Goracle’s old-time prophecy of hellfire & damnation because Trump?
Howling onshore sou’easterlies, rain, thunder, stormy surf along the entire east coast, COLD TEMPERATURE WARNINGS for inland hills c/- BoM, plus the prospect of a Coral Sea cyclone drifting down into the Tassie (Sea) before aiming straight for New Zealand (note: 7-day models are wildly inaccurate 97% of the time).
As the French (midget) Tyrant reportedly said* after losing 490,000 of his 500,000-strong Grande Armee in Russia: “All that has happened is nothing … it is the effect of the climate, and that is all. From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a small step”.
* La Diva Nicotina, 2001, p.152
Iain Gately (U.K.)
ISBN 0-7432-0813-7
[A detailed, and hilarious, account of so-called civilisations’ addiction to fads, ie. fashions – in this case, tobacco – and how the law was/is/shall be an ass].
80
Blocking high pressure is the problems.
https://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/synoptic_col.shtml
The same is happening in the Northern Hemisphere, it feels like a global cooling signal.
22
Sydney Fatberg reported by Guardian.
Imagine how much of real good (to me, to you., to Earth…) could have been done if the uncounted $$B and man-centuries of productive work were direct to existing day-to-day problems of modern life rather than to invented ones !
Like making men into women and vice-versa.
I strongly object to mass media calling those inventors “progressive” as opposite to conservative side, which I see more and more.
J. Watt and T. Edison were conservators ?
Get stu,,ed !
60
Gosselin tackles a philosophical construct, the skeptics are bright and then we have the ignorant mass.
https://notrickszone.com/2026/01/16/philosopher-schopenhauer-climate-science-certainty-stems-from-stupidity-ignorance/
51
FWIW
“A Good Mix of Sunlight and Rain is Now “Climate Whiplash” ”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/16/a-good-mix-of-sunlight-and-rain-is-now-climate-whiplash/
40
“the only professor in the world with a formal title in pyrogeography”
Sorry to quote myself – to save Education as critical civilising institution 1/2 of Australian Universities need to be shut down and another 1/4 to be returned back to TAFE.
101
“1/2 of Australian Universities need to be shut down and another 1/4 to be returned back to TAFE.”
Make them all private businesses and no Govt loans. Pay up front for your course or get a scholarship or a patron. Parents with their heads screwed on might realise your degree in women’s studies is not worth mortgaging their house.
130
Its worth keeping in mind that a third of university students in Australia are international and they pay up front.
00
FWIW – read it all!
“Canadian Politicians Mourn Islamophobic Hate Crime Committed Against Bondi Beach Shooter”
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/01/16/canadian-politicians-mourn-islamophobic-hate-crime-committed-against-bondi-beach-shooter-n3810930
50
FWIW
“Confessions of a Recovering Liberal White Woman”
https://hotair.com/headlines/2026/01/16/confessions-of-a-recovering-liberal-white-woman-n3810869
21
Is this what they mean when they talk about the “transition to renewable power”?
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-leads-global-coal-power-additions-despite-renewables-push
40
“So, any meaningful reduction of global coal-related energy emissions depends on how China approaches its energy security and affordability dilemma in the coming years.”
We are wasting our time, our money and our civilisation! If we stopped all CO2 output tomorrow it would make no difference, but, you get what you vote for…
Also in there, Twitter goes down nationwide in the USA. Seems Musk has really annoyed someone!
50
FWIW
“To Combat Academic Fraud, Scholars Confront Hallowed Tradition”
“The driving ethos of academia, “publish or perish,” is fighting for its life.
The requirement that scholars constantly publish or face academic ruin has been considered the primary engine of scientific discovery for decades. But a growing movement of universities and researchers is trying to banish the practice to the archives, saying it has perverted the pursuit of knowledge and eroded the public’s trust in science.
Reformers at top universities in Europe and the U.S., including Cambridge, Sorbonne, and UC Berkeley, say this traditional system of advancement has led to an explosion in the growth of low-quality research, with little meaningful impact on academic fields or society. It has also sparked the spread of fraudulent research, as “paper mills” churn out fake articles for sale to academics seeking to pad their CVs. ”
More at
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/combat-academic-fraud-scholars-confront-hallowed-tradition
Has links to the first three parts
20
FWIW
“Rapidly declining democracy in the home of the “Mother of Parliaments” ”
https://quotulatiousness.ca/blog/2026/01/16/rapidly-declining-democracy-in-the-home-of-the-mother-of-parliaments/
Via https://instapundit.com/770141/#disqus_thread
10
And
“Eva Vlaardingerbroek: the rising star of Dutch politics banned by Starmer”
Hmmm!
“Just an email saying the UK government deems me “not conducive to the public good” – exactly three days after I criticized Keir Starmer. ”
Seems much more appropriate for Starmer than Eva! (My bold)
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/eva-vlaardingerbroek-the-rising-star-of-dutch-politics-banned-by-starmer/
Via SDA
20
Plus
“If Britain Bans X, How Far Will It Go To Block Free Speech?”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/if-britain-bans-x-how-far-will-it-go-block-free-speech
10