Open Thread – Fri 15 Dec 2023


The Luncheon, Claude Monet, 1873

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

765 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Digger
Digger
December 15, 2023 12:35 am

On the starting blocks…

Digger
Digger
December 15, 2023 12:36 am

On the starting blocks…

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
December 15, 2023 12:41 am

Salaaam aleikum!
I dedicate this fred to projectquran.com.au, get your free firelighters in time for Jan 26th ‘ere folks.
*note they stop posting them out after your third or fourth

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
December 15, 2023 12:51 am

Tird!

Gabor
Gabor
December 15, 2023 1:02 am

Salvatore, Iron Publican
Dec 14, 2023 10:08 PM

From the old OT.

Crikey, Lisa Wilkinson performed well today:
Feminist Twitter is predicting that Lehrmann is “done for” now.

I am confused reading conflicting reports of the trial.

Who is done for then Ch 10 & L W or B L?

Alamak!
December 15, 2023 1:08 am

am confused reading conflicting reports of the trial.

Who is done for then Ch 10 & L W or B L?

One thing is certain, we are all poorer in multiple ways for this media/legal circus.

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 1:29 am

Why are we poorer because of this trial?

Salvatore, Iron Publican
December 15, 2023 1:32 am

I am confused reading conflicting reports of the trial.
Who is done for then Ch 10 & L W or B L?

Much/most of feminist Twitter is going to be caught by surprise, and will be very, very shocked, when Hizzonna reveals his verdict.

Some of the brighter feminist Twitter are trying to break this to them gently, however they’re too caught up in Lisa’s grrrrl pwr & how her every response was a ‘gotcha’ at the expense of Richardson SC.

A few days ago even my dog noticed that the heavily invested in grrrl pwr feminist Twitter have gone very very silent.

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 1:45 am

Jeez Louise, how many of these swine have climbed over the Western fence?

British Political Commentator!

British Political Commentator Sami Hamdi Speaking at London Mosque: Don’t Pity the Palestinians – Celebrate the Victory; How Many of You Felt the Euphoria When You Got the News of October 7?

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 1:57 am

Read Ackman’s Letter. They’re even trying to destroy the top science school in the world.

Bill Ackman
@BillAckman
In light of the affiliated nature of these transactions, in order for @MIT
to have made these investments in Gorenberg’s wife’s non-profit, the MIT board or a subcommittee designated by the board would have had to approve this investment each year it was made.

But why would they have approved this investment for the last five years and I suspect this year as well?

The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

How is an investment in a non-profit that promotes DEI tools to corporations consistent with MIT’s stated mission?

Why would MIT fund an increasing amount of money each year to a board member’s wife’s non-profit , let alone the Chairman’s wife’s company, when the organization does not appear to have gained any traction, let alone any other donors over the last five years?

As someone who runs a foundation, I can tell you that it is a big red flag that this non-profit has not been able to raise any funds from other donors.

The above raises a number of important questions:

Did the board approve these investments for each of the last six years including 2023 for which the 990 has not yet been filed?

Was the board provided proper disclosure about the affiliated nature of these transactions?

Assuming the board followed a proper process and approved these annual grants, why did it do so?

It seems incredibly poor judgment to have made these grants to a one-person company run by the wife of the chairman when the grants are not consistent with MIT’s mission.

The size of the investments are de minimis relative to the MIT endowment. Why would the Chairman waste the board’s time and risk his and MIT’s reputation to make these investments in the first place?

According to his bio published on MIT’s website, Chairman Gorenberg is a highly successful venture capitalist.

Why did he need to ask MIT to fund his wife’s non-profit?

Why didn’t he just write the check himself?

One can reasonably assume that the fact that the non-profit had no outside investors other than MIT was due to the fact that it was unable to raise money from other foundations or philanthropists.

Why is http://Parity.org a non-profit in the first place?

It is ostensibly selling or trying to sell products or services to corporations. There are plenty of other DEI consultants that are for-profits that compete with http://Parity.org.

It appears based on Parity’s lack of revenues for the last five years that it has been unable to sell its products or services. In other words, http://Parity.org is either making no sales or it is giving away its products and services for free.

This of course calls into question the quality of the products and services it offers.

In short, this does not look like a legitimate non-profit. Rather it looks like a sinecure for the wife of the Chairman of MIT.

To survive, http://Parity.org relies on funds from MIT’s endowment that were in turn raised from MIT alumni and other donors who received a tax deduction for the contributions they made, which were in turn subsidized by other unaffiliated taxpayers.

To make matters worse, the non-profit is a DEI organization, an ideology that has contributed to the outbreak of antisemitism on MIT’s campus.

The @PershingSqFdn
made a $750,000 grant to an MIT electrical engineer/neuroscientist this year. That’s about the same amount of money that went out the door last year to http://Parity.org. As a donor, this does not make me feel good.

All of the above begs the following additional questions:

How much did MIT give http://Parity.org in 2023?

Does MIT make investments in any other non-profits affiliated with its directors or their families? If so, which ones and why?

Why would MIT risk its reputation to be the only funder of a non-profit run by the wife of its Chairman?

What is going on at MIT?

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 2:04 am

Former global diversity executive at Facebook pleads guilty to defrauding company out of more than $4 million
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia

ATLANTA – Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a former global diversity executive at Facebook, has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company utilizing an elaborate scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fictitious charges, and cash kickbacks.

“This defendant abused a position of a trust as a global diversity executive for Facebook to defraud the company of millions of dollars, ignoring the insidious consequences of undermining the importance of her DEI mission,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “Motivated by greed, she used her time to orchestrate an elaborate criminal scheme in which fraudulent vendors paid her kickbacks in cash. She even involved relatives, friends, and other associates in her crimes, all to fund a lavish lifestyle through fraud rather than hard and honest work.”

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
December 15, 2023 2:12 am

I listened to AM radio this morning. It is shit.

Stive Morgan & ??????? ??????????? – Pearly Sound (2023)

Alamak!
December 15, 2023 2:15 am

Why are we poorer because of this trial?

Referring to the whole mess including pre-election, payout, criminal and civil trials

– $$$ cost of the payout
– $$$ cost of the trials
– use of unproven charges to influence election
– misuse of media to spread unproven charges
– misuse of legal system

None of this was a positive for the country.

Gabor
Gabor
December 15, 2023 3:16 am

JC
Dec 15, 2023 2:51 AM

Bamboo Scaffolding is incredibly resilient and demonstrates great spatial ability according to a former bok chef.

Blo..dy hell, seen one just like that before, I must say those people place a different value on life. Or is it faith and lack of engineering know-how?

No disrespect and I mean it, but I am reluctant to visit a doctor or other professional whose philosophy is, that all outcome is in the hands of a supreme being.

That maybe so, but I prefer a proven surgeon any day and he/she maybe of any race.

Tom
Tom
December 15, 2023 4:00 am
Tom
Tom
December 15, 2023 4:01 am
Tom
Tom
December 15, 2023 4:02 am
Tom
Tom
December 15, 2023 4:02 am
Tom
Tom
December 15, 2023 4:03 am
Tom
Tom
December 15, 2023 4:04 am
Tom
Tom
December 15, 2023 4:05 am
Tom
Tom
December 15, 2023 4:06 am
Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 4:18 am

Thanks Tom. Happy Friday.

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 4:44 am

So, if the World is going to transition away from fossil fuels (Hydrocarbons), what is it going to transition too? The Stone Age?

comment image

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 15, 2023 5:12 am


Feminist Twitter is predicting that Lehrmann is “done for” now.

Feminist TikTok is better (worse?).
Unless these people are performance artists, I am scared these people vote & drive.

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 15, 2023 5:13 am

Christopher F. Rufo ??
@realchrisrufo

As long as she remains Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay will walk into every meeting knowing that everyone else knows she is a serial plagiarist, middling scholar, and DEI totem who dealt billions of dollars in damage to the institution, but was too selfish to resign.

https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1735155483424813085?s=20

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 15, 2023 6:08 am

So, if the World is going to transition away from fossil fuels (Hydrocarbons), what is it going to transition too? The Stone Age?

Not the Stone Age. Stone has been banned by the government.

Engineered stone to be banned in Australia from July 1 next year (13 Dec)

rosie
rosie
December 15, 2023 6:26 am
MatrixTransform
December 15, 2023 6:39 am

Stone has been banned by the government

small businesses crushed !!

MatrixTransform
December 15, 2023 6:40 am

the industry is rocked

rosie
rosie
December 15, 2023 6:41 am
rosie
rosie
December 15, 2023 6:41 am

Not sure it’s going to be 10 to 15%

rosie
rosie
December 15, 2023 6:43 am

All lives are equal is code for let Hamas continue to operate.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 6:46 am

And, just like that, the government destroys another business.

Because cutting actual stone instead of “engineered” stone is different. Because reasons.

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 15, 2023 6:46 am

After years of bitching about warrantless searches by the FBI, 147 GOP house members voted to extend their use.
The security state never loses.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 6:50 am

We’ll have to stop quarrying, stonemasonry, paving, bricklaying and a raft of other stone/brick applications because of the risk of silicosis.

If not, why not?

rosie
rosie
December 15, 2023 6:51 am
JC
JC
December 15, 2023 6:52 am

WTF is “Happy Friday”?

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 6:52 am

While we’re at it, no more particle board, gyprock or laminates…too dangerous.

I believe wattle and daub is safe. But you never know.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 15, 2023 6:52 am

calli

Dec 15, 2023 6:46 AM

And, just like that, the government destroys another business.

Because cutting actual stone instead of “engineered” stone is different. Because reasons.

Such an easy problem to solve.
Most benchtops have relatively simple cutouts for cooktops, sinks and taps.
Wet cut it in an enclosed booth using automated tools.

Bespoke
Bespoke
December 15, 2023 6:53 am

Elon U

Billionaire Elon Musk is likely to start a university in Austin that will begin with a primary and secondary school centered on science, technology, engineering, and math, according to a report by Bloomberg, which reviewed financial statements of Musk’s charitable foundation.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 15, 2023 6:55 am

Sigh!

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 6:59 am

Wet cut it in an enclosed booth using automated tools.

And that is exactly what most good kitchen companies do. The specs of all the fittings for cut outs are supplied and the stuff is cut in the factory. Simples.

Not so for many other stone applications, particularly ones applied on site. But then, these are wet cut on a bricksaw.

To avoid silicosis, wear a friggin’ mask. It isn’t that difficult. But cowboys gotta cowboy.

Bespoke
Bespoke
December 15, 2023 7:00 am

Chuckle.

MatrixTransform
December 15, 2023 7:00 am

dunno how its manufactured exactly

but these days they measure in situ with a 3-d modeling widget comprising what is essentially a stylus on a string that is tethered to a computing widget sitting on a tripod
millimeter accuracy

they dont have roomful of monkeys hammering away with a chisel, it’s a cut using a water jet

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 7:02 am

Snork!

Bespoke
Bespoke
December 15, 2023 7:04 am

Pop!

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 7:05 am

Corrian is going to be banned?

Wow!

Petros
Petros
December 15, 2023 7:07 am

So all lives are equal now? ALM.

Petros
Petros
December 15, 2023 7:08 am

Silicosis was once called miner’s phthisis.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
December 15, 2023 7:09 am

Headstones will be produced how?
There’s more aware people lying under them than in government.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 15, 2023 7:09 am

Maybe a correction to the Toad Logies speech matter.

From news.com.au

At that point, Mr Lehrmann’s barrister asked the veteran broadcaster if that was “something that you knew you ought not to have been saying eight days before a criminal trial was due to commence”.

“No, because I had sought advice before I got up on that stage,” she said.

Earlier she says she did “appropriate checks”. She doesn’t mention “legal advice” at any stage if those quotes are accurate.
The phrase “I sought advice” could be …
(A) I submitted my speech to respected media lawyer Horace Rumpole KC who returned a marked up version which I delivered verbatim at the Loggies. … or
(B) I said to the barista at my cafe, “I am going to make a speech supporting Britnah at the Loggies. What do you think?” and he said “That’s nice”.

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 7:10 am

Trans

Isn’t it the time of year when you go out to a pub and the guys you’re meeting up shit themselves as soon as you walk in and hang on your every word like you’re a God Oracle

You’ve told us about doing BAS statements, the science cutting stone , don’t leave out the God Oracle schtick for Christmas.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 7:11 am

The one that no one wants to mention is sandstone cut on site using an angle grinder.

Or gyprock dust.

Uh oh. Gypsum!

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 15, 2023 7:11 am

Don’t chuckle me champ!

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 15, 2023 7:13 am

Lisa would know what my “Sigh!” meant.
Youse wooden no.

Mak Siccar
Mak Siccar
December 15, 2023 7:14 am

For Cassie and others. An extract from today’s Oz. Paywalled.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/rule-of-law-requires-us-to-defend-jewish-citizens/news-story/4d5083c880120bc5bbc7a0fd1eff37b5

CHRIS MERRITT

Rule of law requires us to defend Jewish citizens

The guiding framework for this country’s system of governance is set down in the Constitution. And underpinning the Constitution is the rule of law – a set of doctrines that together are liberty’s bulwark.

One of the most powerful of these doctrines is equality before the law, which tells us not just who we are, but who we are not.

We are not a nation that is supposed to tolerate any one of us being singled out and excluded from equal protection of the law whenever the state finds this convenient.

Liberty is also protected by other great components of the rule of law: the separation of powers between the legislature and judiciary, and the idea that punishments can only be imposed for breaches of a law.

Courts, not parliaments, are supposed to impose punishments and only after testing the evidence.

These ideas arrived in this country in 1788 and took root, just as they took root in the US and, most notably, in Israel.

By impeding arbitrary rule they protect individuals who might otherwise be vulnerable.

This explain why Jews, more than anyone else, have a personal interest in the health of the rule of law.

Last century the first targets of authoritarians were Jews and democracy.

This century the targets are same.

But this time, Australia is wavering – not just on support for Israel, a fellow democracy, but on equal protection under the law for Jewish Australians.

This country still welcomes new citizens with the promise that Australia, unlike most places in the world, is governed by the principles of the rule of law. Together they contain the promise of a commonwealth where the law, not some individual, is the true king.

But in the closing days of 2023, it is beginning to look as though many of those in authority have little time for equal protection under the law.

Since October 9, when a Jew-hating mob chanted “gas the Jews” outside the Sydney Opera House, a nation committed to equal protection would have acted decisively to build confidence in community safety.

Yet look at the results.

Jewish schoolchildren are being urged not to reveal their religious affiliation. It was a Jew who was arrested outside the Opera House on October 9, not the thugs with genocidal intent.

Against this background, nobody should be surprised that Jews now fear for the safety of their children, or that the federal government has sided with Israel’s foes at the United Nations.

Recent history shows that a baying mob can persuade weak politicians to abandon principles and adopt an approach to public administration that is best described as pusillanimous.

Cassie of Sydney
December 15, 2023 7:14 am

In Islamophobia news from Denmark and Germany..

Danish authorities also say they have prevented a terror attack after three arrests in Denmark and a fourth in the Netherlands, as Israel said the suspects in Denmark were acting “on behalf of Hamas”.

In Berlin, prosecutors said German police also arrested three suspected members of Hamas on Thursday, accused of preparing an attack against Jewish targets in Europe.

The three men, along with another suspect arrested in the Netherlands, were said to have begun preparing a weapons cache in the German capital where arms would be “kept in a state of readiness in view of potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe,” German federal prosecutors said in a statement.

My God, Islamophobia is out of control!

In more screeching, shouting and screaming Jew hatred news in this country, the left, and the leftist media are now engaged in open and explicit gaslighting and denial of real events, particularly anything that relates to jews. They’ve joined their Islamist Nazi scum buddies to try and say that the cries of “gas the Jews” on Monday night 7 October 2023 did not happen, and there’s even a NSW upper house LABOR MP who got up in NSW parliament to say that there was no “gas the Jews” screeched, screamed and shouted on the steps of the Opera House on Monday night 9 October 2023. Worth noting that ‘Pretty Boy Chris Minns’ has done nothing to censure this vile individual. As I’ve written here, Minns is a pretty face, THAT’S ALL.

The left are now out and proud Nazi Islamist apologists!

I have to say thank God for Sky and particularly Sharri Markson. Markson happens to be a real journalist who, I get the feeling, is scared of nothing and no one. She’s doing a sterling job exposing and unmasking our gaslighting Jew hating scum in the media, social media and on the left in general. Last night Markson shone a torch on those ‘tik tok’ influencers and their open Jew hatred, and she exposed one particular noxious and very rancid little skank, a ‘journalist’ by the name of Antionette Latouf (or as I prefer to more accurately call her, Antionette “Latosh“), who once had a minor gig at Ten, and who also once upon a time appeared infrequently on Sky. Latosh espouses all the usual dreary leftist talking points. I don’t know if Latosh currently has a gig anywhere now, but this slag has has appeared on social media over the last few days “questioning” what was said on the steps of the Opera House on Monday night, 9 October 2023. She’s basically accusing it of being a right-wing Jewish plot! I suppose the skank thinks she’s being intelligent but anyway last night Markson torched her. “Latosh” makes the Tim Blair fright bats of old look positively benign! Markson’s torching of Latosh involved doing what a real journalist should do, Markson has found additional footage of the screeching, screaming, shouting and frothing Jew haters from Monday night 7 October…and guess what words are clearly audible…….

“GAS THE JEWS”

Ho hum, I blame Islamophobia!

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 7:18 am

veteran broadcaster

She won’t like that. Shades of Alan Jones and Rex Mossop.

I fear the dim and dazzled wing of the feminist movement (old Dolly readers?) are due for a disappointment. Their idol is about to sashay over a cliff.

Cassie of Sydney
December 15, 2023 7:20 am

I see the down ticker is up early. This down ticker clearly thinks that “gas the Jews” is quite okay.

shatterzzz
December 15, 2023 7:24 am

HAMAS with pants on …….
https://youtu.be/fB95P62CeJo

Diogenes
Diogenes
December 15, 2023 7:27 am

The one that no one wants to mention is sandstone cut on site using an angle grinder.

I was horrified to see the builders in the village cutting Hebel without wetting it down or wearing masks.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 7:28 am

Don’t fret, Cass. Those downticks come from the safest space on the internet.

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 7:33 am

Calli

Its odds on your down ticking comes from that cloned half human, half rat. It’s wodney woddenhead.

Gabor
Gabor
December 15, 2023 7:39 am

Bruce of Newcastle
Dec 15, 2023 6:08 AM

Not the Stone Age. Stone has been banned by the government.
Engineered stone to be banned in Australia from July 1 next year (13 Dec)

My eldest son is a bricklayer/stonemason , he has his own cutting gear all water assisted there is more chance of him getting soaked than inhaling dust.
Also specialised in restoring marble fireplaces, he reckons old marble is the most fragile and dust producing of all.

I wonder which manufacturer, producer is behind this all?
Is it a newer version of the Ozone layer, refrigeration gas scam?

duncanm
duncanm
December 15, 2023 7:39 am

Someone say silicosis?

A lamentation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xFgQV7javw

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 7:39 am

The alternatives to “engineered” stone are but two.

Marble – very expensive, only for the wealthy, quarried elsewhere so we don’t see the little brown folk collapsing in the dust

Laminates – basically plastics applied to chipboard, full of toxic chemicals just waiting to escape…did anyone mention kitchen fires?

All for the want of cutters wearing adequate breathing equipment.

duncanm
duncanm
December 15, 2023 7:40 am

I wonder which manufacturer, producer is behind this all?

exactly my thoughts – follow the money.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 7:43 am

I was thinking more “anonymity”.

Like putting dog poop in a letterbox. Shame about the CCTV.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 7:45 am

Big Laminate?

Formica, Laminex, PolyTec and a few others.

Black Ball
Black Ball
December 15, 2023 7:45 am

Herald Sun:

Social media users are poking fun at the “dramatic” Cyclone Jasper coverage by the major TV networks.

A clip of 7 News coastal expert Paul Burt drenched in rain reporting from Newell Beach north of Port Douglas on Wednesday went viral on TikTok.

“He’s more dramatic than the cyclone,” one person joked.

“When your life is falling apart but you still got to work,” another said.

Seven’s Sunrise turned off comments on Facebook after viewers mocked host Matt Shirvington’s tour of Port Douglas pointing out fallen trees.

“Surely now you can pull back on all the reports on this and just have basic updates,” one woman said.

And Nine’s Today also drew the ire of viewers. “Keep trying I’m sure it’ll be a record breaking storm eventually,” one Facebook user commented.

Another wrote, “I feel sorry for the reporters who are trying to make a fallen tree news.”

A parody by TikTok user @lifeofthecromies has gone viral.

The reaction on social media comes as Jasper was downgraded to a tropical low but it was a wild night and the cyclone continues to cause havoc.

Emergency personnel rescued 18 people from dangerous flooding as Jasper brings heavy rain across far north Queensland, with 40,000 people still without power.

Authorities in far north Queensland say they are worried about a danger hour this morning.

Sky News weather meteorologist Bradlyn Oakes (WTF?) said flash flooding could come as soon as 9.30am on Thursday, when a high tide is expected, exacerbated by a storm surge.

“This could lead to large amounts of flooding especially when we have this storm surge,” she said.

“And 24-hour totals of rain could be up to half a metre. So we’re watching a large amount of wet weather that could cause life-threatening flash flooding.”

In Mossman, northwest of Port Douglas, 18 people have been rescued from a “dangerous localised flood” at Mossman River.

The SES was called to Mossman Street at about 1am this morning where eight people needed help, and crews then doorknocked and helped evacuate another 10 people, the ABC reports.

The 18 people were brought to safety in the local library.

hzhousewife
hzhousewife
December 15, 2023 7:55 am

I think the silicosis prevention scare has come from U.N. models, picked up here by WorkSafe and Uni studies and union pushed. It’s all part of “ making uth thafe”.

Boambee John
Boambee John
December 15, 2023 7:56 am

JC
Dec 15, 2023 7:33 AM
Calli

Its odds on your down ticking comes from that cloned half human, half rat. It’s wodney woddenhead.

More likely our resident fascist fathead (and fat body) mUnty is at least one of them.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 7:59 am

Sorry, I forgot…granite, marble’s cheaper cousin.

Again, quarried by little brown folk, so that’s okay.

And another thing…last time I looked, laminates don’t allow for under bench applications, only “drop in”. And the moment they’re damaged…water penetration and swelling.

alwaysright
alwaysright
December 15, 2023 8:00 am

CHRIS MERRITT above says it for me.

The problem with the selective application of the law by Vikstasi and NSW troopers is that the undefended group will eventually be defended by other than the jackboots. The defended become more and more extreme. Then things begin to fall apart.

Indolent
Indolent
December 15, 2023 8:05 am
Cassie of Sydney
December 15, 2023 8:09 am

I don’t think there is a word in the dictionary that conveys my visceral loathing for the left.

Indolent
Indolent
December 15, 2023 8:09 am
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 15, 2023 8:10 am

I wonder which manufacturer, producer is behind this all?

It was a campaign by the CFMEU, and of course Albo caved.

alwaysright
alwaysright
December 15, 2023 8:11 am

Let me get this right. The same people who wanted to inject us with untested “vaccines” to save us from the worse than Ebola cold wish to save is from the evil kitchen benches.

P
P
December 15, 2023 8:12 am

In 2023, the passing of Pope Benedict XVI was only the beginning
By Monica Doumit – December 14, 2023

This has been a massive year, hasn’t it? In the final hours of 2022, we heard the news that Pope Benedict XVI had entered eternal life. We were still catching our collective breath from the loss of this giant of the Catholic faith when we unexpectedly lost our dear Cardinal George Pell.

If you’re feeling a little exhausted by all the politics, the relentless attacks on religious faith at an individual and institutional level, and by the sheer volume of events, this brief recap of the year that was might explain why. Keeping track of these issues is my full-time job, and even I find it difficult to be alert to the many different fronts on which we are called to fight.

I hope this final week leading up to Christmas and the holiday period after gives you time to rest and renew your strength: heaven knows that we will need you back on the battlefield next year.

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 8:13 am

JC
Dec 15, 2023 7:33 AM

Paranoid Junior Cretin has got it all ‘wong’ again. You really must get that lisp of yours fixed and get along to the Anger Management Classes. They are missing your anger.

And they are thumbs you dumb dumb.

Not me doing the down thumbing for Calli. For you though – YES.

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 8:13 am

B john

Yea Naa. It’s the limey crook. Don’t forget it was posting screeds of random abuse, morning, noon and in the middle of the night.

Low class limeys are very sneaky and vindictive. It’s the clone.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 8:15 am

Just because it’s Friday…and we need something amusing.

Have any of the gardeners/plant lovers here ever visited Bunnings, looked at the garden section, and longed to do this?

I know I have. 😀

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 8:17 am

Not me doing the down thumbing for Calli. For you though – YES.

B john, See, it’s just me. No one else, but just me. Wouldn’t think of such a thing.

Great add Dragnet. If have any more pals like this cloned thing introduce them here presto.

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 8:18 am

alwaysright
Dec 15, 2023 8:11 AM
Let me get this right. The same people who wanted to inject us with untested “vaccines” to save us from the worse than Ebola cold wish to save is from the evil kitchen benches.

Strange how every time I see footage of people working on this stone that no one is wearing a face mask or any protective gear.

Boambee John
Boambee John
December 15, 2023 8:20 am

JC
Dec 15, 2023 8:13 AM
B john

Yea Naa. It’s the limey crook. Don’t forget it was posting screeds of random abuse, morning, noon and in the middle of the night.

Low class limeys are very sneaky and vindictive. It’s the clone.

Low class leftards are also very sneaky and vindictive. One at least is the Fat Boy.

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 8:24 am

A farmer walked into a bar and saw the local tractor salesman sitting there, head hung low, obviously upset, drowning his sorrows in his beer.

“What’s up, John?” asked the farmer. “Gosh Bob, I’ll tell you what … if I don’t sell a tractor soon, I’m gonna have to close my shop.”

“Now John, things could be worse,” said Bob. “How do you figure?” asked John.

“Well, John – you know my ‘ornery cow, Bessie? I went to milk her this morning and she just kept flicking her tail in my face. So I grabbed a piece of rope and tied it up to the rafter. Then, the nasty thing went and kicked the bucket away! So I tied her leg to the wall. Then she kicked my stool right out from underneath me! But I was out of rope. So I took my belt off and used it to tie her other leg to the other side of the stall. Well wouldn’t you just know it…my damn pants fell down.”

“And John, if you can convince my wife that I was in there to MILK that cow, I’ll buy a tractor from you.”

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 15, 2023 8:24 am

FWIW there were lots of down thumbs for a while the mutley started to comment a lot in a short time. The down thumbs stopped and when he slowed in commenting the down thumbs started up again.

Black Ball
Black Ball
December 15, 2023 8:26 am

I don’t think there is a word in the dictionary that conveys my visceral loathing for the left.

Aye Cassie.

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 8:27 am

Low class leftards are also very sneaky and vindictive. One at least is the Fat Boy.

He just admitted he’s a vindictive,lowrent limey rat.

Not me doing the down thumbing for Calli. For you though – YES.

Paranoid Junior Cretin has got it all ‘wong’ again.

lol He’s the one with the wong, because he couldn’t get a white.

🙂

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 8:28 am

JC
Dec 15, 2023 8:13 AM
B john

Random abuse is your forte Fat Pizza Arse. My abuse is very, very directed – Responding to your obtuse abuse and any other abuse.

Others here have the same problem with you which is why you are so well liked – I mean licked.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 8:32 am

Rapid coal exit to pile pressure on power grid build-out

Angela Macdonald-Smith – resources writer

All coal power stations will close within 15 years, raising the urgency to get the build-out of transmission lines back on track and ramp up renewable energy to keep the lights on.

Coal power plants will exit the national energy grid much faster than their owners are assuming, the Australian Energy Market Operator says.

It brought forward the timing for the elimination of coal power from the grid by five years to 2038 in the expectation that plant owners will surrender to rising maintenance costs, coal supply shortages and competition from cheap wind and solar.

AEMO’s accelerated timeline for the elimination of coal, contained in a draft report released on Friday (87 Page PDF), came as the grid in NSW was already showing signs of being stretched.

The operator on Thursday took initial steps to call for emergency generation to lower the risk of rolling blackouts in NSW as the state baked in 40-degree temperatures but did not have to follow through as conditions eased.

NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe called for households and businesses to reduce electricity use if they could.

The risk of shortages later faded.

The latest forecast for the demise of coal power points to the shutdown of some plants almost 10 years earlier than scheduled, including Alinta Energy’s Loy Yang B in Victoria which is officially due to run until 2047.

The regulator said the possibility that replacement generation was not available when coal plants retired “is real and growing, and a risk that must be avoided”.

It reinforces the necessity for a rapid build-out of cleaner generation and transmission to avoid shortages and price spikes even as construction costs surge. Transmission costs had jumped about 30 per cent in recent years, AEMO said.

Squeeze on system

“The plan maps out urgent investment so that homes and businesses continue to access reliable and affordable electricity, both in the coming decade when 90 per cent of coal generation is expected to retire, and beyond to 2050,” said AEMO chief executive Daniel Westerman.

“In the next decade, this plan shows the need for 5000km of transmission, both new projects and those under way, triple renewable generation and double dispatchable storage, hydro and gas-powered generation.”

The squeeze on NSW’s power system was one of the first since the closure of AGL Energy’s Liddell coal power plant in April and underscores the challenges ahead as big chunks of coal generation shut down even with significant new wind, solar and storage plants coming online.

The NSW government is now negotiating to delay the next scheduled plant closure, Origin Energy’s giant Eraring plant in 2025, to avoid price shocks, with the cost to taxpayers yet to be made clear.

AEMO reiterated the need for agreements on closure timeframes that would provide more notice than the required 3½ years, giving more time to ensure new capacity is in place and avert price spikes.

NSW will on Friday start consultation on a new scheme for the shutdown of coal plants, to be designed as an “opt-in” system for state governments that would allow them to temporarily order a plant stay open if required.

The scheme would be rolled out nationally.

AEMO said the earlier demise of coal power meant even faster expansion was needed in renewable generation, of 6 gigawatts a year, a 50 per cent increase from the 4GW annual expansion targeted in 2022.

The build-out is running at less than 4GW a year as slow approvals, social licence issues and rising costs drag on project schedules.

Surging costs have also slashed the net benefits expected from needed investment in new transmission, which have shrunk from $27.7 billion in the 2022 blueprint to $17.45 billion even before most new projects are built.

The cost of HumeLink has risen to about $4.9 billion from about $3.3 billion in the 2022 blueprint, and the New England Renewable Energy Zone link has surged to $3.69 billion from $1.9 billion, and could be up to 50 per cent more.

But AEMO stuck to its view that the lowest-cost pathway for reliable electricity through the transition is from renewable energy, connected by transmission, and supported by batteries and pumped hydro, with gas power as back-up.

AEMO’s “optimal” development path for the system involves $121 billion in capital costs through to 2050 for generation, storage, firming and transmission infrastructure, including $16.4 billion in transmission.

Grid projects include the Project EnergyConnect line under construction between South Australia and NSW, the controversial Western Renewables Link and VNI West projects in Victoria, and HumeLink in NSW, many of which are facing fierce pushback from rural communities.

‘Cheapest way’

“Delivering the transmission projects identified in this plan is expected to avoid $17 billion in additional costs to consumers if those projects were not delivered,” Mr Westerman said, calling for more effort to address social licence and supply chain hurdles.

Federal Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said AEMO’s findings confirmed that firmed renewable energy was the cheapest way to ensure a reliable and clean power system.

The Coalition’s nuclear-based plan relied on a technology that would not be commercial before 90 per cent of the coal fleet retired, “risking energy security for millions of households and businesses across the country”.

“It’s past time for [Opposition Leader Peter] Dutton and [opposition energy spokesman Ted] O’Brien to be honest with Australians about how they plan to replace the 90 per cent of ageing, and increasingly unreliable, coal-fired power generation forecast to close over the next decade – given they have called for a pause on all new renewables and transmission,” Mr Bowen said.

Brett Redman, CEO of NSW’s Transgrid, said the company was getting on with delivering key projects and that the draft ISP clearly showed efforts needed to be accelerated.

Transgrid would invest more than $14 billion in NSW over the next decade to build 2500km of transmission lines to connect renewables to the grid.

AEMO further increased its forecast for rooftop solar by 2050, by 18 gigawatts, but reiterated they need to be better orchestrated for the benefit of the grid.

Rooftop solar panels generated more power to the grid in the March quarter of 2023 than either grid-scale solar, wind, hydro or gas power.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 15, 2023 8:32 am

Hi mutley, how’s the milko’s kids?

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 8:33 am

JC
Dec 15, 2023 8:27 AM
Low class leftards are also very sneaky and vindictive. One at least is the Fat Boy.

He just admitted he’s a vindictive,lowrent limey rat.

LOL. Please show me where. You are so paranoid that you make things up in that empty head of yours. Whatever you are smoking please keep it up.

And how a limey unless you are a closet Yank. Pom is the ‘affectionate’ phrase that you are looking for. Dickhead.

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 8:35 am

I can resist everything except temptation.

– Oscar Wilde

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 8:36 am

Oh, directed random abuse is fine. And yeah, I do have a problem with Team Moron Inc.

Go check the catalogue, wodney you may find another, “Me Lroves you wrong time ad”. You two-bit crook.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 15, 2023 8:42 am

ABCcess hates the Pharmacy’s, with their evil supplying people with a product they want, and are legally able to do, and its what they are trained to do…
More ABC payback for the anti-Elbow rumblings after the script rules changes.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-15/compounding-pharmacies-making-ozempic-weight-loss-drugs/103228058
A ‘loophole’ allowing imitation drugs to be mass-produced
Compounding pharmacies are licensed to create medicine themselves, and can manufacture custom pharmaceuticals for patients with a prescription who cannot find a commercially made, mass produced option.

In those circumstances the medication is exempt from the normal TGA medicine approval protocols, and is not required to be tested by an independent body before being sold to patients.

Compounding is intended to let pharmacists help individual patients access medication that is in shortage or is not available in a suitable form.

Examples include medication for a baby that needs to be administered as liquid rather than a tablet, or a strength that needs to be custom-produced.

But the widespread demand for diabetes drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro has tested the exemption, with some compounding pharmacies now producing replica weight loss medications on an industrial scale.

The “loophole” is professionals doing exactly what their profession allows them to do and they are qualified to do.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 8:44 am

Indolent
Dec 15, 2023 8:05 AM
AI weather

Indolent,

as a Fan of Google Deep Mind – Alpha Go

AlphaGo – The Movie | Full award-winning documentary – 1hr 30 Min 27 Secs

that article would really be basis for perhaps dismantling BOM – I have sent a copy of the link to myself to do follow up research on this topic when I am back home –
Thanks for that link

Artificial-intelligence (AI) firm Google DeepMind has turned its hand to the intensive science of weather forecasting — and developed a machine-learning model that outperforms the best conventional tools as well as other AI approaches at the task.

The model, called GraphCast, can run from a desktop computer and makes more accurate predictions than conventional models in minutes rather than hours.

this has a level of outlandish potential that’s hard to even wrap your head around at first. and the speed is just a part of it.

The trained model uses the ‘current’ state of global weather and weather estimates from 6 hours earlier to predict the weather 6 hours ahead. Earlier predictions are fed back into the model, enabling it to make estimates further into the future. DeepMind researchers found that GraphCast could use global weather estimates from 2018 to make forecasts up to 10 days ahead in less than a minute, and the predictions were more accurate than the ECMWF’s High RESolution forecasting system (HRES) — one version of its NWP — which takes hours to forecast.

“In the troposphere, which is the part of the atmosphere closest to the surface that affects us all the most, GraphCast outperforms HRES on more than 99% of the 12,00 measurements that we’ve done,” says computer scientist Remi Lam at DeepMind in London.

this has some surprisingly earth shaking potentialities, especially as this is still very new, gen 1 stuff. it will rapidly improve.

this is exactly the sort of task that self learning AI can excel at. there is a staggering amount of data, it’s linked and cross linked and back chained in horrifically complex ways, and it’s frankly a complexity level that is just plain beyond humans. our existing systems are brute force attacks trying to model cubes of air that accumulate error rates at great speed while eating ever more computational power.

but suddenly minutes of desktop time can outperform hours of a supercomputer.

really stop to think about what that means.

stop to realize that this is an “alpha go moment” where once more, machine learning is showing us that we never even understood the rudiments of a game we’re been playing for ages. we thought we were masters.

we did not even know the basics. we did not even understand the moves the machine made until it mopped the floor with what we could conceive. top players laughed at its openings as senseless, then lost. bigly. this problem space is too big for humans to model or even comprehend in any meaningful way. we just take stabs in the dark and hope to get lucky.

Mak Siccar
Mak Siccar
December 15, 2023 8:47 am

Mak Siccar
Dec 15, 2023 7:14 AM
For Cassie and others. An extract from today’s Oz. Paywalled.

CHRIS MERRITT

Rule of law requires us to defend Jewish citizens

To this I would add that (I believe) civilised people have a very strong moral obligation to defend Jewish people.

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 8:48 am

Time for some Marty flatulence. Not vindictive though. No siree.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
December 15, 2023 8:49 am

AEMO
Our plan f..ked up the electricity grid but that’s because we haven’t done it fast enough.

alwaysright
alwaysright
December 15, 2023 8:50 am

Mak Siccar
Dec 15, 2023 8:47 AM

civilised people have a very strong moral obligation to defend Jewish people

Hear hear!

JC
JC
December 15, 2023 8:52 am

Reflation trade is back on big time.

US bank stocks up 5 to 6 percent.

10 year bond yield now below 4%.

Next week should be a good time to short bonds again.

alwaysright
alwaysright
December 15, 2023 8:53 am

Civilised people have a very strong moral obligation to defend babies/children/women, to not murder, mutilate, disembowel and rape them.

areff
areff
December 15, 2023 8:58 am

A supporter of Miss Knickerless-Piggins’ rather amusingly thinks Mrs Pirate told truth to power:

https://twitter.com/msjuliedavey/status/1735144657544483045

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 9:02 am

Farmer Gez – Of use to Farmers

GraphCast: AI model for faster and more accurate global weather forecasting

Published14 NOVEMBER 2023

Authors Remi Lam on behalf of the GraphCast team

Our state-of-the-art model delivers 10-day weather predictions at unprecedented accuracy in under one minute

The weather affects us all, in ways big and small. It can dictate how we dress in the morning, provide us with green energy and, in the worst cases, create storms that can devastate communities. In a world of increasingly extreme weather, fast and accurate forecasts have never been more important.

In a paper published in Science, we introduce GraphCast, a state-of-the-art AI model able to make medium-range weather forecasts with unprecedented accuracy. GraphCast predicts weather conditions up to 10 days in advance more accurately and much faster than the industry gold-standard weather simulation system – the High Resolution Forecast (HRES), produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

GraphCast can also offer earlier warnings of extreme weather events. It can predict the tracks of cyclones with great accuracy further into the future, identifies atmospheric rivers associated with flood risk, and predicts the onset of extreme temperatures. This ability has the potential to save lives through greater preparedness.

GraphCast takes a significant step forward in AI for weather prediction, offering more accurate and efficient forecasts, and opening paths to support decision-making critical to the needs of our industries and societies. And, by open sourcing the model code for GraphCast, we are enabling scientists and forecasters around the world to benefit billions of people in their everyday lives. GraphCast is already being used by weather agencies, including ECMWF, which is running a live experiment of our model’s forecasts on its website.

– The challenge of global weather forecasting

– GraphCast: An AI model for weather prediction

– Better warnings for extreme weather events

– The future of AI for weather

Learn more about GraphCast

– Read our paper in Science

– Read an open access copy of our paper* – Learning skillful medium-range global weatherforecasting – 156 Page PDF

– Access GraphCast on Github

– View GraphCast live on ECMWF

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 9:03 am
OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 9:07 am
Bar Beach Swimmer
December 15, 2023 9:09 am

Ftb @ 5:12 & 5:13

The joys of the actual truth, and not some stupid, “personal-empowering truth”, being revealed.

Unfortunately, not everyone is similarly endowed with the blessings of common sense and a reasonable sense of discernment, so it helps them when clarity finally rips through their personal empowerment miasma.

Lisa Wilkinson et al., come on down…

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 15, 2023 9:10 am

We will have to shut down all mines again then. if it saves just one life….

Rather than put in place a few ground rules (ventilation/wet cutting/PPE etc) the government goes the ban hammer and declares all modern kitchens must revert back to this.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 9:12 am

GraphCast: Learning skillful medium-range global weather forecasting

This package contains example code to run and train GraphCast. It also provides three pretrained models:

GraphCast, the high-resolution model used in the GraphCast paper (0.25 degree resolution, 37 pressure levels), trained on ERA5 data from 1979 to 2017,

GraphCast_small, a smaller, low-resolution version of GraphCast (1 degree resolution, 13 pressure levels, and a smaller mesh), trained on ERA5 data from 1979 to 2015, useful to run a model with lower memory and compute constraints,

GraphCast_operational, a high-resolution model (0.25 degree resolution, 13 pressure levels) pre-trained on ERA5 data from 1979 to 2017 and fine-tuned on HRES data from 2016 to 2021. This model can be initialized from HRES data (does not require precipitation inputs).

The model weights, normalization statistics, and example inputs are available on Google Cloud Bucket.

Full model training requires downloading the ERA5 dataset, available from ECMWF.

Jorge
Jorge
December 15, 2023 9:15 am

But in the closing days of 2023, it is beginning to look as though many of those in authority have little time for equal protection under the law.

Imagine the outrage if someone declared they were getting together a citizen security operation to car patrol the streets of Jewish areas like Caulfield. Doing it because police had shown they had no understanding or capacity to match the threats. Members of such patrols being non Jews worried about the safety of our Jewish brothers and sisters.

Beertruk
December 15, 2023 9:15 am

calli
Dec 15, 2023 7:39 AM

All for the want of cutters wearing adequate breathing equipment.

Few years ago we bought a new induction cooktop (NEFF…German engineering), which needed a larger cut out than the original cooktop. Eventually put on to a bloke who made kitchens and kitchen benchtops and was happy to do the cut out for cash.
After crap load of plastic dropsheets and tape we were ready.
We wore masks and I was on the waterbottle while he was doing the cutting.
Didn’t have any dust issues to speak of. More a bit of a river of mud to clean up.
Bought the house we are in now earlier this year and did the same thing again. Same bloke. Cash and I threw in a carton of whatever beer he wanted this time.
As per usual, when us blokes clean up, it is never…ever good enough, so we sat down for a beer while Mrs Beertruk and her sister cleaned up what they thought we had left behind.
Calli, your comment is pretty much exactly what he said to me.

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
December 15, 2023 9:16 am

To this I would add that (I believe) civilised people have a very strong moral obligation to defend Jewish people.

. I am a God-loving Christian and I know Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour was not a Christian, Jesus was a Jew until he drew his last earthly breath on the Cross and hence I will always support the Jews because I believe they are God’s Chosen People and my Christian faith was born of one of God’s Chosen people. May God protect the Jews, I stand with Israel and Jews all over the world.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 15, 2023 9:19 am

Shameless turds.
They cut the throat on the industry back in 2012 then cite high prices as why they need to change over.

https://twitter.com/LilyDAmbrosioMP/status/1735085611911147961

Lily D’Ambrosio MP
@LilyDAmbrosioMP
I’ve released the update to our Gas Substitution Roadmap.

Fossil gas is no longer the cheap fuel it once was – in just 2 years, the typical gas bill has risen by $500.

So, we’re helping Victorians slash their energy bills, moving off expensive fossil gas and going all electric.

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 9:21 am

JC
Dec 15, 2023 8:36 AM

No, Junior Crook you are the crook. And crooked too. So crooked that you can’t lay down straight in bed. Bent and crocked. I do so love these words as they are so appropriate for an angry thing like you. Paranoid as well. How is the sand pit these days Junior? Got any toys left to play wiv’?

Mr “start a stoush” needs to have have some rest now Nurse. Please put him down now. Permanently.

P
P
December 15, 2023 9:22 am

HAS HITLER WON ON THE LEFT?
by Carl R. Trueman
12 . 14 . 23

When is a crime victimless? When its perpetrators enjoy the status of victims, at least according to the nihilistic tastes of the West in our day.
.
The contradictions at the heart of the modern morality of victimhood have now been exposed to all with eyes to see, even to many who have been pressing it in the political sphere. When members of the LGBTQ lobby express support for Hamas, it is another reminder that many progressives have lost any sense of a moral compass. But this was predictable. When oppressor and oppressed, victimizer and victim are the decisive categories by which to understand the world with no broader moral framework for defining those terms, political morality defaults to that of ressentiment, a reactive stance that simply opposes on principle whatever is. It is the spirit of negation.

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 9:22 am

You have to listen very carefully and tell the truth if you are going to get a paranoid person to open up to you.

– Jordan Peterson

Johnny Rotten
December 15, 2023 9:26 am

Junior Cretin was ambling through a crowded street fair when he decided to stop and sit at a Palm Reader’s table. The mysterious old woman greeted him warmly and said: “For fifteen dollars, I can read your love line and tell your romantic future.”

Junior readily agreed and the reader took one look at his open palm and said, “I can see that you have no girlfriend.” “That’s true,” said Junior. “Oh my goodness, you are extremely lonely, aren’t you?” “Yes,” Junior shamefully admitted. “That’s amazing. Can you tell all of this from my love line?” “Love line? No, from the calluses and blisters.”

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 15, 2023 9:27 am

Miss Knickerless-Piggins’

Word of the day!

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
December 15, 2023 9:30 am

From Gateway Pundit

Kevin McCarthy Delivers His Final Speech on House Floor: Lauds Democrats as True Reflection of America, Criticizes GOP as “Restrictive Country Clubs”

Good riddance.

flyingduk
flyingduk
December 15, 2023 9:34 am

Jeez Louise, how many of these swine have climbed over the Western fence?

British Political Commentator!

The enemy is within the wire.

Anders
Anders
December 15, 2023 9:34 am

All coal power stations will close within 15 years, raising the urgency to get the build-out of transmission lines back on track and ramp up renewable energy to keep the lights on.

Holy shit, this is completely insane.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 15, 2023 9:34 am

New one nation cartoon – warning a line by Albo to Brant may cause you nightmares.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1735404292323066084

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 15, 2023 9:38 am

First operational pebble-bed nuclear power plant:

China brings world’s first Generation IV nuclear reactor online (14 Dec)

It’ll be interesting to see how it performs on cost and reliability. One feature is it doesn’t need water cooling, so can be built anywhere, not next to a body of water.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 9:40 am
Roger
Roger
December 15, 2023 9:42 am

ABC reporting that western Sydney’s “Arab community” wants to punish Labor at the ballot box for being tardy in calling for a ceasefire.

Adopt our foreign policy or else!

Roger
Roger
December 15, 2023 9:47 am

Headstones will be produced how?

Not a problem…they’ll ban burials, on account of the environment.

Tom
Tom
December 15, 2023 9:47 am

I’ve just joined up to the Tucker Carlson Network ($A14 per month), via tuckercarlson.com, which unlocks all of his recent work, including his fascinating 30-minute interview with the new president of Argentina Javier Milei — undoubtedly the most interesting story in world journalism, particularly as he is the global left’s new target for gotchas, smears and whatever it takes.

I hope TCN will start to fill the void in my knowledge of the world left by Carlson’s sacking by Fox News, which left me with just one weekly Fox show I still watch regularly, Mark Levin’s Life Liberty and Levin.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 15, 2023 9:48 am

1/2 hour to go before its toadwhacking time again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acBXa4jvW2Q

Beertruk
December 15, 2023 9:49 am

Today’s Tele:

LISA SHY OVER HER TABLOID EXPLOITS

TIM BLAIR – COMMENT
15 Dec 2023

It is reasonable for a journalist to be asked about the level of public interest in their work.

After all, public interest is central to a reporting career. Journalists who are unread tend also to be unpaid.

Yet media veteran Lisa Wilkinson, defending herself yesterday in a defamation trial launched by Bruce Lehrmann, was hostile to questioning about interest in her coverage of Brittany Higgins’s rape claims – claims strongly denied by Lehrmann.

“You were thrilled by the riveting commercial appeal of the story that she told,” Lehrmann’s lawyer, Matthew Richardson SC, put to Wilkinson on Thursday.

Wilkinson’s response was one for the ages: “Please don’t make me sound like a cheap tabloid journalist, Mr Richardson.”

Given that Wilkinson has been getting by on a reported annual salary of some $1.7m, even after taking a leave of absence from her hosting duties at The Project, she clearly isn’t cheap.

But The Project is as tabloid as television news can be.

Likewise, Wilkinson’s previous roles on Nine’s Today show and as editor of Dolly and Cleo magazines speak to a rich tabloid heritage. Exactly why Wilkinson should want to disown her hugely successful tabloid accomplishments is anyone’s guess.

Even her husband, author Peter FitzSimons, writes for the tabloid Sydney Morning Herald (except the SMH describes itself as “compact”, which is what a tabloid is called if you’re on seven figures and live on the other side of the Bridge).

Size matters.

But Wilkinson presumably rejected the notion that she is a tabloid figure in the sense of favouring sensationalism and scandal over rigorous research. If that was so, Wilkinson certainly didn’t do herself any favours when she yesterday launched into a terrific conspiracy theory about cover-ups and high-level political intrigue over the Higgins case.

It was sheer tabloid gold, no matter how “tabloid” may be interpreted.

“Did you believe,” Justice Michael Lee asked Wilkinson at one point, “that there had been a systemic cover-up of a rape allegation or not?”

“Yes,” non-tabloider Lisa replied. “I believed there was a lot of damage control going on within the Prime Minister’s Office to keep this whole thing under wraps.”

Wilkinson’s supportive evidence for this belief, she revealed to the court, was that members of thenPM Scott Morrison’s staff had been in contact with former minister Linda Reynolds’s office after the rape allegations were made. All of this added up, Wilkinson said, to something “pretty significant”.

Yet Wilkinson, as Lehrmann’s lawyer pointed out, had no idea about the content of those meetings. “I know how politics works, Mr Richardson,” Wilkinson replied.

What a perfect tabloid kicker.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
December 15, 2023 9:55 am

The AEMO ISP transmission plan is like buying lots of trucks, keeping them on the road constantly – using them as a mobile storage system in the hope that they can meet demand by sheer number without the need for a major storage build.
No one would think this is sensible or robust. There’s no redundancy in the system whatsoever.

Bazinga
Bazinga
December 15, 2023 9:56 am

Can’t engineered stone be prepared by robot or by persons in positive pressure safety gear or under wet conditions to make it safe? Why did they go straight to elimination?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 15, 2023 10:02 am

Why did they go straight to elimination?

I think the real question is what does the CFMEU gain by having engineered stone banned? It smells like there’s an ulterior motive in there somewhere.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 15, 2023 10:03 am

From the Oz.

Should you dump your husband? Clementine Ford thinks so

Comments went down the memory hole overnight.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 10:06 am

1/2 hour to go before its toadwhacking time again.

I want a “Scooby Doo” moment, when our intrepid Lisa Holmes unmasks the wicked government conspirators.

Just don’t call it a tabloid denouement. Strictly compact.

Roger
Roger
December 15, 2023 10:07 am

Should you dump your husband? Clementine Ford thinks so

All women should be single, miserable and angry.

Like her.

Digger
Digger
December 15, 2023 10:07 am

So, if the World is going to transition away from fossil fuels (Hydrocarbons), what is it going to transition too? The Stone Age?

The one thing we can expect in the very short term following the decisions at the climate talk fest is $10.00 per litre fuel….

They will simply “money” us out of using those fuels… I reckon fossil fuel taxes will massively increase very soon…

Arky
December 15, 2023 10:08 am

JC
Dec 15, 2023 8:27 AM

Paranoid Junior Cretin has got it all ‘wong’ again.

lol He’s the one with the wong, because he couldn’t get a white.

..
Don’t you ever complain about anyone on here throwing “racist” abuse at you again you snivelling brat.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 15, 2023 10:09 am

Mzzz Wilkinson:
/Rips the mask off judge revealing Scott Morriswine.
“See it was him all along”.

and everyone claps.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 15, 2023 10:09 am

areff

Dec 15, 2023 8:58 AM

A supporter of Miss Knickerless-Piggins’ rather amusingly thinks Mrs Pirate told truth to power:

Let’s see how “I sought advice” plays out today.

Fair Shake
Fair Shake
December 15, 2023 10:10 am

Caught up with some friends last night after push bike racing at Sandown Motorsport park. (Melb). Mates wife threw in a derogatory quip about Trump. I said hang on Im a Trump fan and rolled the conversation back to another topic. She stared at me for 10 seconds and said ‘what? You cant be!’ I said you forget I dont live in a Teal area so I am free to think for myself. She was horrified. I laughed at her, ‘you should see your face’ in a good natured way.
Im sure my mate who firmly believed Scomo had a women problem, had a good discussion on the way home. LOL.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
December 15, 2023 10:11 am

Exactly Sancho, they have skipped a bunch of hierarchy of controls to end up at Elimination. My personal opinion from being at the coal face (no pun intended) of high risk work and as others above have highlighted/suggested engineering the problem away would have been much more reasonable.

I wonder which manufacturer, producer is behind this all? Is it a newer version of the Ozone layer, refrigeration gas scam?

Cali, what hz said.

Roger
Roger
December 15, 2023 10:16 am

I reckon fossil fuel taxes will massively increase very soon…

Deja vu all over again if we get a Labor-Teal-Green government next up.

Dutton can then play the role of Abbott redivivus and destroy them at the following election.

Bazinga
Bazinga
December 15, 2023 10:18 am

When oppressor and oppressed, victimizer and victim are the decisive categories by which to understand the world with no broader moral framework for defining those terms, political morality defaults to that of ressentiment, a reactive stance that simply opposes on principle whatever is. It is the spirit of negation.

But once the oppressor becomes the oppressed then the weight of morality has to fall back the other way, and the cycle starts again.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 15, 2023 10:19 am

Bamboo Scaffolding is incredibly resilient and demonstrates great spatial ability according to a former bok chef.

Hell on wheels, JC, but that was a terrible scaffolding collapse.

My mind is on scaffolding this morning as I have just idled away a fascinating half an hour watching men in big boots painstakingly unlock and then demolish three stories of scaffolding from the house next door, which was a lovely old stone farmhouse just fully renovated inside when it sold in 2022. The new owners and their architect have stripped the interior out completely, including all walls and previous renos, leaving only the facade of stone walls at the front. They’ve dug out a new story from the basement rock, poured a new slab ceiling over that for the second story, and have dumped a huge extension in as a third story, a great big black box, onto a mere hint of the old gabled roofline.

Big Boxism is all the go around here, something we’ve resisted, refusing offers to purchase our land and building for demolition into Big Box apartments. No-one’s getting their wrecking hands on my just finished renos, let alone removing the Bohemian Crystal chandelier we’ve just had installed. We’ve actually gone a bit chandelier crazy. Another one in Murano glass is going over the dining table next week, after some cloud wallpaper gets put on the ceiling there. And we’ve just put some Marimekko Woodcut Bears in an Owl and Pussy Cat fantasy forest on the wall behind our bed, these ‘personal stamps’ making our place unsaleable except to lunatics like us. Lucky we don’t want to sell. 🙂

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 10:21 am

Farmer Gez & Farmers opposing Transmission Lines

Note: AEMO welcomes feedback on this Draft 2024 ISP by 16 February 2024. Stakeholder feedback

will inform the final 2024 ISP due for release by 28 June 2024

Meanwhile Labor continues to Aim to Screw Australia

Purpose

AEMO publishes the Draft 2024 Integrated System Plan (ISP) pursuant to its functions under section 49(2) of
the National Electricity Law (which defines AEMO’s functions as National Transmission Planner) and its
supporting functions under the National Electricity Rules.

This publication is generally based on information
available to AEMO as at 30 October 2023 unless otherwise indicated.

Executive summary © AEMO 2023 | Draft 2024 Integrated System Plan for the National Electricity Market 6 – 87 Page PDF

A plan for investment in the energy transition

Australia needs an energy system that delivers secure, reliable and affordable electricity. In the
past, we have depended on coal-fired generation. Now, the way Australia generates electricity is
changing – from fossil-fuelled to renewable energy.

With coal retiring, renewable energy connected with transmission, firmed with storage and backed
up by gas-powered generation is the lowest cost way to supply electricity to homes and businesses
throughout Australia’s transition to a net zero economy.

Governments have set 2050 as the target for a net zero economy, with each jurisdiction having
interim emissions and renewable energy targets to meet that deadline. Federal Government policy
is a 43% reduction in 2005-level emissions by 2030, with 82% of electricity in the National
Electricity Market (NEM) supplied from renewable sources.

The energy transition, well underway, is by far the biggest transformation of the NEM since it was
formed 25 years ago. As well as the shift from coal to firmed renewables, it will treble capacity to
meet future demand, and enable a two-way flow of electricity across the grid.

Published every two years, AEMO’s Integrated System Plan (ISP) is a roadmap for the transition of
the NEM power system, with a clear plan for essential infrastructure to meet future energy needs.
Previous iterations of the ISP set an ambitious pace for investment. Projects now need to be
delivered, as planned. About 90% of the NEM’s coal fleet is forecast to retire before 2035 in
AEMO’s most likely future scenario, and the entire fleet before 2040.

This Draft 2024 ISP is a milestone on an industry-wide journey to prepare the ISP. It reflects
consultations with consumer and community representatives, governments, energy market authorities,
investors and developers, network planners, industry bodies and science and technology institutions.

The Draft 2024 ISP is a robust plan that calls for urgent investment in generation, firming
and transmission that targets secure, reliable and affordable electricity through the energy
transition, with its transmission elements delivering $17 billion in net market benefits to
consumers.

• The energy transition is already well underway, breaking renewable generation records while
managing inherent tensions. The ISP is a roadmap to complete the NEM’s transition (Part A).
• The ISP’s optimal development path sets out the needed generation, firming and transmission,
which would deliver significant net market benefits for consumers and economic opportunities in
Australia’s regions (Part B).
• The transition is urgent, and faces significant risks if market and policy settings, social licence
and supply chain issues are not quickly addressed (Part C).

AEMO welcomes feedback on this Draft 2024 ISP by 16 February 2024. Stakeholder feedback
will inform the final 2024 ISP due for release by 28 June 2024

Dot
Dot
December 15, 2023 10:21 am

Alamak!
Dec 15, 2023 2:15 AM
Why are we poorer because of this trial?

Referring to the whole mess including pre-election, payout, criminal and civil trials

Sir, this will only hurt a bit, but we’re lancing massive boil right now.

Lie back and think of Kate Upton.

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
December 15, 2023 10:23 am

All in the gates, red light flashing – and they’re off in the cheap tabloid stakes!

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 15, 2023 10:25 am

… sigh!

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 15, 2023 10:25 am

But once the oppressor becomes the oppressed then the weight of morality has to fall back the other way, and the cycle starts again.

And nothing ever changes. That’s why we need to break that ‘spirit of negation’ with some really good positivity. I admire Israelis for doing just that; I’ve never met a more positive set of people than those in Israel, and as Cassie says, Jewish people here do know how to laugh and stay positive.

Dot
Dot
December 15, 2023 10:25 am

POSTED IN THE CORRECT ORDER

no. 1.

“”” areff

Dec 15, 2023 8:58 AM

A supporter of Miss Knickerless-Piggins’ rather amusingly thinks Mrs Pirate told truth to power:

Let’s see how “I sought advice” plays out today.”””

no. 2.

“”” Wilkinson:
/Rips the mask off judge revealing Scott Morriswine.
“See it was him all along”.

and everyone claps“””

If only they were to be surgically joined together, in a panzer-mole-pede, perhaps it could unf**k its thinking meat.

alwaysright
alwaysright
December 15, 2023 10:26 am

thefrollickingmole
Dec 15, 2023 9:19 AM
Shameless turds.

So the additional electricity load will be handled by QLD? GAS? NUKES?

Does somebody(Bruce) have the energy efficiency percentage of using gas to create electricity?

Energy conversion rates are never good.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 15, 2023 10:27 am

Alamak!
Dec 15, 2023 2:15 AM
Why are we poorer because of this trial?

Referring to the whole mess including pre-election, payout, criminal and civil trials

The litany of disasters before this is worth noting.
But this trial process has tipped a bucket on a lot of it, not least the release of the back of coaster settlement for Britnah.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 15, 2023 10:27 am

The one thing we can expect in the very short term following the decisions at the climate talk fest is $10.00 per litre fuel….

Chalmers widened the luxury cars tax on Wednesday to not luxury cars.

Major change coming to car tax in Australia – here’s what it means for drivers (13 Dec)

SUV and hybrid buyers are getting stung with a 33 per cent luxury car tax under a change by Treasurer Jim Chalmers – but EV drivers will get off scot-free.

Cars selling for between $76,950 and $89,332 will attract the luxury car tax unless the vehicle used less than 3.5 litres for every 100km, Treasury revealed on Wednesday.

Petrol-electric hybrid SUVs, including those from Lexus, typically use more than five litres for every 100km.

This means someone would have to buy something fully electric to avoid the luxury car tax, with the changes set to hurt Toyota which is lukewarm about fully-electric vehicles.

You can see where they are going with this. Won’t work though, the punters will just keep on driving their clunkers Cuba-style.

Dot
Dot
December 15, 2023 10:27 am

The weirdos who want cubes and boxes for houses everywhere aren’t much different to the freaks who want pyramids everywhere.

Bazinga
Bazinga
December 15, 2023 10:28 am

Can’t engineered stone be prepared by robot or by persons in positive pressure safety gear or under wet conditions to make it safe? Why did they go straight to elimination?

Furthermore if you follow the WorkSafe rules of conducting an honest risk assessment you’ll land on the acceptable method of operation. Ban dust and civilisation halts (see mining).

Rabz
December 15, 2023 10:29 am

“I know how politics works”

One of the signal quotes of this entire farce.

Bazinga
Bazinga
December 15, 2023 10:29 am

The weirdos who want cubes and boxes for houses everywhere aren’t much different to the freaks who want pyramids everywhere.

You can stack boxes but not pyramids without great engineering.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 15, 2023 10:29 am

lol, the young Jewish apprentice who comes with our regular electrician to do work for us was there putting together our complex Bohemian Glass chandelier under the eagle eye of his boss. Do you mind if I take a picture? he asked when it was hanging complete. For my mum, he added.

What a good boy he is to his mother!

Real Deal
Real Deal
December 15, 2023 10:33 am

Because cutting actual stone instead of “engineered” stone is different. Because reasons.

I must say I kinda agree with the ban. In 2020 I was having my own lung dramas and was bounced into a respiratory ward for overnight observation after a biopsy went wrong.

In the 4 bed ward next to me was a 28 year old young man who was on oxygen and struggling to breath. He said he worked with cutting stone for benchtops.

It was heartbreaking to see the state he was in so young in life. I would doubt that he was still alive today.

Stone benches are great, but maybe as Sancho says they can do some sort of sealed robotic stuff to still use it.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 15, 2023 10:34 am

Does somebody(Bruce) have the energy efficiency percentage of using gas to create electricity?

Closed-cycle gas turbines are about 60% efficient. Coal power is lower, but still around 50%ish for a modern plant – but coal is much cheaper than gas.

Of course to keep the lights on with erratic wind turbines and solar panels the grid needs open-cycle gas turbines that have a fast response. Their efficiency is only about 30%.

The erratic changes in power also enforce inefficiency on the coal plants, which have to ramp rapidly – they are much more efficient when running steadily. The net effect is AEMO would probably emit less CO2 overall if they disconnected all the renewables from the grid and just ran the CCGTs and coal plants at optimum efficiency.

bons
bons
December 15, 2023 10:34 am

Naturally, I am far from a Winston Peters fan …….BUT His speech in reply yesterday was a ripper.

He nailed woke in all its forms, name changes, the Maroi Party, the education system; diversity; the Greens; and lefty economics.

The problems being that: most of his speech was about him; he did not apologise for inflicting Adern upon NZ; he will not be consistent, it is not in his nature; he will not be able to control his wet lettuce PM.

Perfidious Albino
Perfidious Albino
December 15, 2023 10:35 am

AEMO – 90% of the coal fleet will be retired within a decade, all gone within 15 years.

Turtlehead – nuclear won’t be commercially viable until 90% of coal generation is retired.

Same article. No dots joined. Imbeciles.

Dot
Dot
December 15, 2023 10:36 am

I know how politics works and I exude power, you lying cows and rape enabling fake police station Gileadeans, I tells yas!

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
December 15, 2023 10:38 am

On ch 7 and Jasper.

Ch 7 have form with this. Grant Denyer did something similar during Yasi. Bunch of storm chasers all relayed the story after the dust settled on this guys behaviour.

He and ch 7 thought Cairns was going to cop it so they flew into Cairns had accommodation & set up. When it was confirmed it was slipping south and the northern quadrants of Yasi weren’t too strong they drove to Innisfail despite apparently being told not to by emergency services.

When they got there gales were starting to hit, they couldn’t find accommodation and were put up in the cyclone shelter that had no room already. To get their footage during the night against instructions they exited cyclone shelter to get a couple minutes of sensationalised footage more than once. Denyer’s behaviour was apparently rude, dismissive and arrogant.

Next morning they took drive out to near the South Johnstone/Milla Milla turn off on the Bruce Hwy which was as far as they could get. I recognised the grainy footage of all the banana plantations on that side of town.

I did hear at the time and memories probably have faded now that Denyer was persona non grata on that area of the north tropical coast. He was a notable absentee when Kochies road show came through a few months later in that area.

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 15, 2023 10:40 am

Lol, Saint Lisa off to a fantastic start.

Dot
Dot
December 15, 2023 10:41 am

No, Junior Crook you are the crook. And crooked too. So crooked that you can’t lay down straight in bed. Bent and crocked. I do so love these words as they are so appropriate for an angry thing like you. Paranoid as well. How is the sand pit these days Junior? Got any toys left to play wiv’?

Mr “start a stoush” needs to have have some rest now Nurse. Please put him down now. Permanently.

Probably goes too far…LOL!

alwaysright
alwaysright
December 15, 2023 10:41 am

Thank you Bruce

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 15, 2023 10:42 am

Gunna be a long day, Saint Lisa.

Cassie of Sydney
December 15, 2023 10:43 am

“Fair Shake
Dec 15, 2023 10:10 AM”

Well done, that’s how you deal with them, don’t wince, don’t flinch, throw it back at them.

It isn’t hard, in fact it is very, very liberating!

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 15, 2023 10:43 am

Hmm. New car tax hitting in 2025 just in time for the Federal election.

Well, just about every car around here is a luxury car and they voted for it. We didn’t, so I think Hairy and I might have a chat about turning in the Sporty Beamer for a medium size new petrol SUV next year before they stop making (or importing) them. One that we can hang on to for the next ten years, not doing the usual three to five year turnover, for you can’t trust the Libs on this, they’re as bad as Labor.

Beertruk
December 15, 2023 10:44 am

Real Deal
Dec 15, 2023 10:33 AM

Stone benches are great, but maybe as Sancho says they can do some sort of sealed robotic stuff to still use it.

When all this kicked off, the first ban I think was that there was no more cutting on site. All the stone benches had to be precut at the factory outlet, as in cutting booths, water etc and then delivered onsite.
Cutting onsite was ‘verboten.’

Dot
Dot
December 15, 2023 10:46 am

When all this kicked off, the first ban I think was that there was no more cutting on site. All the stone benches had to be precut at the factory outlet, as in cutting booths, water etc and then delivered onsite.

That seems reasonable. There’s no need to ban anything.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 15, 2023 10:48 am

Stone benches are great, but maybe as Sancho says they can do some sort of sealed robotic stuff to still use it.

Full PPE works for viruses so it should work for stone, and a lot of it could be done by robots. I can’t see this industry, beloved of home renovators, going down without a fight. Moving straight to banning seems rather extreme.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 15, 2023 10:50 am

Toad: I dont know what metada is…
Also toad: 2 examples of talking about metadata predating Hoggins case.

Defence objects.
Overruled…

Dot
Dot
December 15, 2023 10:52 am

Toad: I dont know what metada is…
Also toad: 2 examples of talking about metadata predating Hoggins case.

You go girl!

Perjury is an outdated misogynistic concept!

Davey Boy
December 15, 2023 10:54 am

Based on her performance so far this morning it occurs to me that the Toad might be an unabashed lying full-of-it full-on malicious ignoramus.

Perhaps that is how “serious and experienced investigative journalists” make their living these days?

I could be wrong.

Roger
Roger
December 15, 2023 10:57 am

There’s no need to ban anything.

Iiuc, the move toward banning originated with the oh&s crowd, not the unions, although the latter soon came on board.

See above re UTAS oh&s academic now saying proposed alternatives aren’t safe either.

Hammer meets nail.

Davey Boy
December 15, 2023 10:59 am

The Toad: “Journalists like politicians all work 7 days a week”

yeah nah

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 11:00 am

The weirdos who want cubes and boxes for houses everywhere aren’t much different to the freaks who want pyramids everywhere.

The lion’s share of this trend is driven by Council requirements for “building envelopes”. KDR’s, particularly in our more salubrious suburbs are extremely restrictive…so how to maximise floor space while remaining in the “envelope”? Build a stacked box that is stepped back each storey.

And, of course, add a flat roof with maybe a small space for a roof garden. Instead of the tiles getting the view, you do.

bons
bons
December 15, 2023 11:00 am

22 days before I can send these bloody kelpies back to their farm. I am not going to survive.

This morning they took off down the beach heading for Melbourne. I eventually found them dashing into the water trying to herd the surfies.

The butcher birds and the magies have great fun baiting them which sets them off charging around like the idiots that they are. They are genuine keystone cops.

Yesterday one of them jumped the pool fence chasing a magie.

As my daughter has declined to have them on her farm, a trip to Bunnings for a cage might be in order.

Dot
Dot
December 15, 2023 11:04 am

And, of course, add a flat roof with maybe a small space for a roof garden. Instead of the tiles getting the view, you do.

Isn’t there a nicer way to do it though for a reasonable price? In the Georgian or Prairie style?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 11:05 am

Transcript of Lisa Wilkinson’s full five-hour chat with Brittany Higgins, David Sharaz released by Federal Court

A 268-page transcript of Lisa Wilkinson’s five-hour discussion with Brittany Higgins and her partner David Sharaz has been released by the Federal Court.

Samantha Maiden

Lisa Wilkinson claimed Julie Bishop had “shat all over the Liberal Party” in a women’s empowerment event and suggested she was charging $40,000 for a speech in a candid pre-interview with Brittany Higgins.

The Federal Court has now published a 268-page transcript of a five hour discussion between Ms Wilkinson, Ms Higgins, her boyfriend David Sharaz and Ten producer Angus Llewellyn.

It reveals the veteran broadcaster suggests Canberra has a sick culture that reminds her of the infamous billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“It’s like Jeffrey Epstein. Everyone’s got something on everyone else, so no-one talks,’’ Ms Wilkinson.

She also suggests the government is playing “mind games” with Ms Higgins.

“I’ll say it again, it’s a sick culture,’’ the broadcaster says.

Ms Wilkinson was cross examined over the tape on Thursday as the trial continues.

She was accused of “crossing the line” as a journalist and “coaching” Ms Higgins answers, a suggestion she firmly rejected.

Canberra bubble is “as ugly as sin”

“It’s about fear, it’s about intimidation, it’s sexist, it’s, everything is implied, everything’s in secret,’’ Ms Wilkinson says on the tape.

“Everything seems to operate in dark shadows, because the minute you shine a torch on any of it, it’s as ugly as sin.

“They really, the way they play mind games is exceptional. “

Ms Wilkinson urges Ms Higgins to “just be kind to yourself”

“But make no mistake, the culture that you’ve been working in has been all about suppressing all of the good angels,’’ Ms Wilkinson tells Ms Higgins.

“Everyone around you has been saying, no, no, no, we squash that down, that doesn’t exist, we just try and, well, not try, we just carry on. Because that’s what we do in this bubble.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 15, 2023 11:07 am

They sound like wonderful dogs though, Bons. They won’t mind a kennel caging at home as long as they go out still for their regular runs. Is there maybe someone who could share their exercise load with you? The local dog pound may know of some dog lover willing to help. Or some farmer willing to have them regularly visit?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 15, 2023 11:07 am

The weirdos who want cubes and boxes for houses everywhere aren’t much different to the freaks who want pyramids everywhere.

The latter would solve one problem which Cats have identified today.

If we can’t carve gravestones to bury people under because dust, and we can’t cremate them because that would release planet-killing gases, then the logical alternative would be to embalm granny once she needs it. And to do a proper job you’d need a pyramid to put her into afterwards.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 15, 2023 11:08 am

A 268-page transcript of Lisa Wilkinson’s five-hour discussion with Brittany Higgins and her partner David Sharaz has been released by the Federal Court.

https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/114295/Aide-Memoire-to-Exhibit-36.pdf

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 15, 2023 11:08 am

Boom.

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 15, 2023 11:09 am

Lee’s interjection.
Saint Lisa’s response.
It’s over.

Re the “advice”.
And Lee’s made it clear re privilege.

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 15, 2023 11:10 am

Lee interjects again.
Answer the question.

calli
calli
December 15, 2023 11:10 am

It’s about fear, it’s about intimidation, it’s sexist, it’s, everything is implied, everything’s in secret,’’ Ms Wilkinson says on the tape.

Sheesh. Maybe she did consult Dennis Denuto.

Reeeee! The Viiiiibe!

Cassie of Sydney
December 15, 2023 11:10 am

“22 days before I can send these bloody kelpies back to their farm. I am not going to survive.”

You made me smile. Thank you.

I think all canines are angels, but there’s truly something magical about kelpies. They are absolute ratbags.

1 2 3 4
765
0
Oh, you think that, do you? Care to put it on record?x
()
x