How Australia Perfected Solar Power and Then Went Back to Coal

[turboplanner]

It's fruit loop day.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

poor old bex, leave him alone TP

 

 

[bexrbetter]

a bit star struck eh bex?

Not in the slightest, Pollies are far from my favorite people, the grins had just come off me complaining there was no 'Vanilla Slices' (the Chef was Australian!), otherwise I was there purely for my own interests.

 

julie "asbestos queen" bishop does nothing for me, she is neither articulate or cultured

Maybe because she was totally out of her environment and possibly a bit of a holiday for her here, I assure you she was 'quite normal'.

 

 

[Guest Captain1]

what uni did you go to bex?

What the heck does that have to do with his posts FT?

 

 

[Guest Captain1]

julie "asbestos queen" bishop does nothing for me, she is neither articulate or cultured

How inarticulate and uncultured it is not to say "neither articulate nor cultured". What primary school did you go to FT?

 

 

[facthunter]

It's LABOR and I'm not a member. Just for the record on both counts. Nev

 

 

[bexrbetter]

It's LABOR and I'm not a member. Just for the record on both counts. Nev

Yeah, yeah, no need to labour the point ....

 

 

[facthunter]

I got picked up on it a while back too... Nev

 

 

[fly_tornado]

at least the photographer waited till you stopped sniffing her hair

 

Personally, she reminds me why one women is one too many in an LNP cabinet.

 

Geoff, every uni has a different economic theory they peddle. I was curious which uni Bex went too.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Comes as no surprise to me that a bunch of blokes who left school at 15 yet demand 6 figure salaries per year can't spell the name of their own movement

 

 

[Guest Captain1]

Yeah, yeah, no need to labour the point ....

I hate to be overly FTedantic but perhaps that should read "no need to belabour the point"?

 

 

[DonRamsay]

FT, on politics you would do yourself (and us all) a big favour by keeping it to yourself.

 

I've been impressed with the quality of your commentary for some time but this mindless insulting is beneath contempt. Feel what you like about who you like but we don't need to hear this demeaning nonsense.

 

 

[Guest Captain1]

Personally, she reminds me why one women is one too many in an LNP cabinet.

What a shallow post.

 

 

 

Playing the woman instead of the issue eh FT?

 

 

 

At least that makes a change from you playing the man instead of arguing the important topics.

 

 

[AVOCET]

Bex and i went to the same F.U 10 years apart

 

Our piers were the good old solid type ,

 

you know , the ones you jump off , to get ahead .

 

Mike

 

 

[Bikky]

B-O-W-E-L. How's that?! I can spell!

 

 

[Marty_d]

I said to her "Autograph?" and she said "ok", so I gave her one of my standard signed pictures I carry.

She's not a bad looking lady for 58 years of age.

 

My Missus, Me, Bishop, our Chef and the Hotel Manager (Kiwi).

 

[ATTACH=full]32782[/ATTACH]

 

By the way, I am neither Lib or Labour sided.

I see you took my advice Bex, you've put a smile on her face!!

 

 

[bexrbetter]

I see you took my advice Bex, you've put a smile on her face!!

So you would do to her what she's doing to the country?

 

 

[turboplanner]

Which country do you live in Bikky?

 

 

[Marty_d]

So you would do to her what she's doing to the country?

Wow that was confusing, for a moment there were two posts - the one above, and one saying "So you think I did to her what she's doing to the country?"

 

So not quite sure whether it's you or me doing her, but given I live at the south end of a map of Tassie...

 

She's not my cup of tea personally, but I will say she's Denise Richards compared to the other Bishop in parliament.

 

 

[Bikky]

Which country do you live in Bikky?

I live in Brazil! Crazy, beautiful (and very religious, by the way) Brazil. I moved here three years ago and I'm never going back to Australia. I love Australia but .... the politics, jingoism, racism, rusted on attitudes, denial of personal freedoms - the list goes on, determined that after 50 years, I'd had a gut-full!

 

Brazilians are the best people in the world. Ask for directions and they'll take you where you need to go.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Thanks, I was wondering why you didn't know about the Viracochas

 

 

[facthunter]

There's plenty of Australians who will tell you where to go too. Nev

 

 

[DonRamsay]

My biggest problem with Climate Change Theory advocates is the shifty way they moved from "Global Warming" an apparent good thing for people who live in cold climates to the meaningless term "Climate Change". It is not even "Climate Change for the Worse". And I have never heard a statement from a Climate Changer that says there might be some good things come from Climate change. As the old saying goes, it is an ill wind indeed that brings no good for anybody. Is there nothing, not anything good that can come from climate change?"

 

Civilisation has been hard on the animals in Africa but even that unfortunate thing has given us a few streets in a few towns in Africa where you are unlikely to be eaten by big cats or trampled by elephants. Not all bad?

 

What drives me to distraction though are the people who equate a hot day or even a hot decade as examples of Climate Change happening NOW. By the time we can safely declare that the Climate has changed it could be 50 or 100 years. The same can be said for people who say it was cold last Tuesday as evidence that Global Cooling is happening. But, to be fair, they are usually only saying that as a counter to the people who declare climate change happened last Wednesday afternoon.

 

Even Climate Changers would not be worried by a climate 4 degrees warmer and higher levels of CO2 giving the trees a better environment to grab carbon from the air. What they are reasonably concerned about is what happens when you put that much extra energy into the atmosphere leading to massive storms and alteration to weather patterns and to the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps raising seawater levels and inundating the densely populated, highly productive big river deltas. But, I think that they really don't know what the outcome of 4 degrees hotter will be and are just broadcasting their greatest fears in a lopsided prediction of only woe. The end is nigh!

 

For all that, can anyone realistically deny that levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are higher than they have been for millennia (refer ice cores) and that they are increasing rapidly (as measured) and that a lot of that increase is coming from burning carbon based fuels?

 

Would it be such a bad thing to move to conserving the world's petroleum reserves for making plastics and lubricants, and fuelling intercontinental air travel? Running the world's fleet of cars on electricity would go a long way to doing that and bringing CO2 emissions down to an acceptable level especially if the electricity was generated from solar.

 

I agree with the Captain that smashing the Australian economy for a token gesture is stupid. We all know that if Australia ceased forever to emit a gram of CO2 that it would not make one rats bum of difference to the global level of CO2.

 

Also, be very careful what you wish for. We've all seen the huge benefits Australia earned from the mining boom. That is what saved us from the great recession not the profligate spending by Kevin and his unco dancing partner. The depression Australia would face if the Coal industry were phased out the way Christine Milne would have it does not bear thinking of. To quote the ill-considered Ms Milne "do you want Death or Coal?" Well, for the moment I can live with Coal rather than embrace Death.

 

 

[Bikky]

Thanks, I was wondering why you didn't know about the Viracochas

I'm aware of the Viracochas but like macumba, it's interesting history but of little relevance to me. By the way, I like your passion for knowledge and willingness to research - a valuable trait.

 

 

[facthunter]

Don, the heat that will cause much more activity in cyclones etc is related to the temperature of the oceans where the moisture that gives the systems so much energy, originates. Simply the latent heat of vaporisation is the agent. Cyclones have energy levels equivalent to a succession of atomic bombs being let off for days. CO2 is not the only problem with burning coal Acid rain( Sulphur oxides) hass been a big problem in the northern hemisphere. Most CO2 has be absorbed in the oceans where it forms carbonic and carbolic acids which inhibit the normal calcium absorbtion in most shelled sea creatures. Our Coral reefs are affected also. The greenhouse effect in the atmosphere is not challenged seriously by anyone. The PPM figure is around 400 which may be too high already to guarantee success in keeping the temperature to a level where alteration of ocean flows doesn't change and things like the snows of the Himalaya's being assured to provide water for China and lot's of Asia can't be relied on. If the CO2 levels were LOW we would have an ice age. Most reliable commentry on living with 4 degrees rise see it as a runaway situation with enormouse levels of methane being liberated from the large areas of permafrost in Canada and Siberia, and accelerating effects as a result. Sea level changes result from expansion due temp increase and rising level due glacier and landborne ice sheets melt. 4 degres mean rise doesn't just have temps rising by that amount Extremes get more common. The big melts are also affecting the surface salinity levels causing more pack ice and variation of long existing flow patterns being possible. Currents like the Humbolt move heat to Europe, which is kept much warmer than it otherwise would be by the currents from equatorial regions.. Nev