A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on.
To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such.
John Quiggin 
If I understand you right, then it looks like we may be well-served in the specific area you are talking about. Making the rail faster won’t bring us more fuel efficiency.
“Fortunately — for certain values of the word fortunately — cement flue gas has about twice the CO2 concentration as coal power station flue gas, which makes carbon capture easier. Of course, if there are better alternatives, it would make sense to use them instead.”
Carbon capture schemes not involving land hydration, desert-greening or soil production are a form of insanity. Proof that the movement has gone over the rails into cloud cuckoo land. And a reason for people subsuming their CO2 fears into the dual goals of energy efficiency and good soil production. One doesn’t know where to start with something like this. To create massive hazards in this way cannot be done without recourse to yet more hydro-carbon usage …. in a long energy crisis. A real crisis this time.
Maybe even these two goals don’t save the CO2 problem alone. But if they don’t then slowing coal exports (in order to leave more for Australians in the decades to come) will pick up anything left over. If you worry about CO2 levels its just a matter of following these other goals with a bit more force and zeal.
In permaculture it is always said “The problem is the solution.” If we cannot build soil under conditions of high CO2 levels, if we cannot green the deserts at such a time, we are never going to do so in a century of Sundays. High CO2 is an opportunity to do these things. If we cannot do these things now we will be in severe trouble later if the CO2 levels drop down dangerously.
People gotta get the scales out of their eyes when it comes to technology. Old technology more vigorously applied IS the new technology.
Just a note about canals. People will think I’m crazy talking about canals on the driest continent save only Antarctica. But we could use more small container-enabled ports around the coast. And we don’t know what inland opportunities may open up once the land hydration and soil-building processes are maxed out. We’ve got to be thinking in terms of 5000 year infrastructure. Then if we get lucky with some pathway perhaps we can speed things up.
People take things for granted. Its often said “Australia is the driest continent.” But how about if we change that reality? What if we make Australia the wettest continent? We may have to settle for second place after South America, supposing they maintain their Amazon jungle. But we can change that reality. It all starts with a swale. We cannot say how far the process of land hydration will take us.
But suppose we were the wettest or second wettest continent? How would that change things for the possibility of energy efficient settlements around canals? For carbon internment? Water cargo transport? It is possible to dig CO2 pits that are not money pits. That save money and make money and that are not death traps. We call them swales.
Classic Radio Stories,
Swales are swell. They are a present from above. In fact the word Swales is an Austraian military acronym. It means South West Australians Love Environmental Sustainability. It also means Sun, Water Animals Land Equals Surpluses. It also means Slow Water Always Leaves Excess Soil. It also means It also means that Some Weeds Are Like Emergency Supplies. It also means Stop War Against Leading Enlightened Societies. That one is clearly a reference to Cuba. it also means Shoot While Analyzing Last Engagement Situation. Honestly I do not really know what that is supposed to mean but I bet it makes sense to someone. My guess is that it means act quckily. It also means Surrender When All Life Exhibits Spoiling. It also means stupid wits are like excess sand.
I guess that I better stop now. This list cold get really long.
A ditch is there to drain away troublesome water. A ditch goes from up to down. It changes altitude. A swale is just a ditch that is all one altitude. In practice a swale will follow the contour of a hill. But the idea of a swale is to try and get the water to sink under the soil, where it cannot be subject to dehydration, without going through a plant first.
Converting a hill into a situation of banks and terraces achieves much the same result. But swales are cheaper and swales are a first easy step towards terraces. Note how the Chinese and Peruvians terraced their hills hundreds if not thousands of years ago and yet our version of capitalism is so dysfunctional we cannot do it now.
Carbon will naturally follow the water into the soil but if we have real intention in this matter then that will be excellence in carbon capture and storage. All other forms of carbon capture and storage are basically irrational and ought not be attempted. If your operating principle is heavily weighted towards silvopasture and permaculture then we can increase rainfall. Trees increase rainfall. I’m not sure how they do it exactly but they do it, and also they pull water clean out of the air, being as their leaves at a microscopic level have a massive surface area. So water condenses on these leaves. While they transpire a lot of water they are net water producers.
So you know. If we want a wetter continent, one where there aren’t any more heat waves, and where we intern huge amounts of carbon in the soil …. We can have these things. But its not going to happen automatically. We have to go out and do it. We need to make policy in such a way as to achieve this. Swales are not the only thing but they are always the first step.
Land hydration? 5000 year infrastructure?
Due to unstoppable anthropocene climate processes the great inland sea will most likely return once more by a mere 500 years time. There was a proposal to bring it on faster more than 50 years ago iirc by nuking a channel (a rather large inland canal). As I recall some prominent yanks were quite willing to do it for us, some not so much. Some versions of that proposal may have been for nil cost too, unlike what was wanted in return for the proposed causeway across to Magnetic Island to be constructed by repurposing Castle Hill in central Townsville! Blasting holes and tearing down mountains – it’s easier done of course than nuking into existence a long high rain making mountain range, and there’s a faster buck to be made!
The nuclear age. More, and more varied geoengineering coming soon to a place near you.
Due to unstoppable anthropocene climate processes the great inland sea will most likely return once more by a mere 500 years time.”
Fat chance of that. Where is your solar forecast to go with this idea? What we can rely on right now is a little ice age. By the 2030’s anyone sane will be be desperate for any warming we can get. And we are unlikely to be quits with the cold times clear until the next century. As the oil wells all go down to a few nodding donkeys, its going to be harder and harder for industry to maintain CO2 output. So by the time the warm weather returns we won’t have the same giant hydro-carbon industry to sustain your projection, supposing that you had the science correct. Plus if we took to sending carbon into the ground, through land hydration followed by soil-building, that is also the end of your projection.
Going on the last nuclear attack in Beirut it may be that they can dial in the amount of radiation they are after. So softening up the ground with deep underground nukes ought not be ruled out. But I’m just saying hydrate the whole country starting with swales. Then we will get the carbon internment without trying all that hard, and in a few decades we will be able to look again at the possibility of turning many rivers into canals and building factories and 3-5 storey buildings nearby.
An inland sea would be good but its not going to come here on its own. More is the pity. If thats what we want we are going to have to build the canal, some of it underground, to flood out some below sea level areas. We can daydream about an inland sea. But if we want it we are going to have to go get it. Its a worthy undertaking and the government should start slowly buying up the lowlands now.
There is one alternative energy component that Australia should try and become the lowest cost producer for. Donald Sadoway’s liquid molten metal batteries. The most scalable energy storage system there is, and likely ever will be, next only to synthetic diesel. I’d be wanting to use synthetic diesel as a kind of battery substitute. But after this its the Sadoway concept that is the best one.
Australia could easily dominate the production of these things. The infrastructure is there. Our dominant position in that space is available for the taking. The opportunity is on its knees begging us. Better offer Sadoway a deal to make this an open-access non-patentable invention, if and only if the batteries are manufactured on Australian soil. A little bit of generosity early on could make Australia a fortune down the track.
These batteries could make our current grid that much more robust. This is a serious national defence matter.
Almost 30 years ago I became involved in a conspiracy to divorce myself from American society. I moved out of the U.S. in 1996 to further that conspiracy. Unfortunately I was only partially successful in divorcing myself from the U.S.
Historical trends are now picking up speed. I deem it no longer sufficient to divorce myself from the U.S: I think it is now an appropriate time to divorce myself from planet earth. This website will be all that thethers me to planet earth in the future.
A good person or a good nation would not try to keep a useful technology all to themselves. That is a version of secrecy. People who have learned something from history know that secrecy is evil. Sadly only the fewest number of people learn anything from history.
“I’m in favour. But then I love vaccines and have had every shot that the doc will give me, including annual flu shots.”
John Street. How old are you and do you have auto-immune afflictions like rheumatoid arthritis? Do you know what is in these vaccines and are you actively courting dementia?
The vaccine concept can work sometimes. But you don’t want to be a fool about it. You are going to be a burden to society if someone else has to wipe your butt.
“I too suspect that if a safe and effective vaccine is developed, it will be only about 50% effective as J.Q. says. That raises some important issues. It will be an assistance towards eradication of the virus but eradication will still require other measures to continue until eradication; testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine.”
How about that? Did Ikon include TREATMENT in this lineup? Does anybody remember TREATMENT?
The deprivation of HCQ was baked into the terrorist attack cake. Ivermectin is subject to the big public yawn. No-ones providing high-dose vitamin D3 domestically and to do so would still be illegal. No-one has told anyone to sunbathe. Intravenous Vitamin C …. well you know … quackery according to everyone whose never read a medical study in their life.
So here we are demanding peoples body be violated and we have outlawed treatment. Ikon was claiming in error that there was no mass-murdering campaign of treatment denial. And yet where is treatment or PREPARATION (Does anyone remember preparation?) in his list of measures???????
So while one can accept the logic of mandatory vaccination the reality is that there are so many other issues to resolve before you start forcibly punching nerve poisons into peoples bodies. You may as well also make rape mandatory. At least there aren’t nerve poisons accompanying the injection.
If I could vote for a stunning act of savotage to be carried out it would be for all crypto currencies to become worthless or disappear at instantly. I have no idea what so ever how such a feat could be carried out. But if such a thing did happen I would be awfully darned pleased.
This crypto currency thing is clearly closely associated with money laundering. Therefore trade in crypto currnecies can probably not be physically stopped. But like wanting to go for a trip on an airplane demand to for crypto currencies can probably be slashed by 95% if it were proven that the risks of losing 100% of the money involved in the transaction were quite high.
The destruction of the crypto currency market would be a sign that there are actually powerful benevolent forces present on planet earth.
I was watching the Youtube video several days ago about why New Zealand did not become part of Australia. I learned from watching that video that the Australian Constitution is by design a hybrid between the British treaditions and the US Constitution.
Now in and of itself that is really not very important. But it accidently provides a very important clue. It is a clue that the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are actually still ONE UNIFIED MILITARY POLITICAL SYSTEM. Well there really is not much new in stating that. But it is a refinement over previous understandings of international power. It also provides a refinement of the proper understanding of world history.
Up until now all attempts to identify the point at which the society of the United States really lost its way pointed back to the year 1913. Ok previous to 1913 it was obvious that the American Dream was not intended to be for Native Americans or Blacks. That exclusion excluded almost 15% of the population at that time. OK the matter of women as oppssed to men is an intertwined issue. Also the Irish and latter southern and eastern Europeans were oppressed for a while. In fact as a class system American society continues to exploit large parts of the population. But keep in mind there is a difference between exploitation and oppression.
Up until 1913 it appeared that the US system worked for 85% of the popultion. OK to those who lack perception it still appears that the US system works for 85% of the population. But those with decernment often trace the root of the rot back to around 1913 with the founding of the Federal Reserve.
But what I now understand to be true, and this has to my knowledge never been written about by any historian anywhere before, is that the entire US War of Independence was a scam. Yes there was a war with many battles and certianly some casualties on both sides. But is what has never been revealed before is that the British Crown was fighting this war with one hand tied behind thier back because The War of American Independence was actually a British Idea. They DELIBERATELY provoked the colonists to fight for their independence.
It was initially all a trick to fool the Native American Tribes. The plan was no doubt hatched in the 1760s with implementation of the plan beginning shortly after that. You see the British had signed treaties with the Native Americans that prevented westward expansion of their colonies. They could not very well be seen as ingnoring those treaties as that would drive the Native Americans en masse in to the arms of the French.
Therefore the British decided that the 13 colonies would control the lands to the west while Enland maintained actual if not fomal control over the 13 colonies by means of subtervuge carried out by agents and lobbists.
Then in the early 1770s events occured in the United Kingdom that added an impetes for granting the colonies their independence. The abolitionist movement in the UK started growing some teeth. By legally granting the colonies their independence the rulers of the UK hoped to maintain the benifits of imperialism in north America without bearing the costs. The ruling elite of the UK would still have access to the raw materials that fueled their empire as private citizens not as Royal Governors.
In the short run it might appear that the plan did not work the way it was supposed to. Why because I am sure that the British elites calculated that the 13 colonies could never unite under one strong central government. And if they did it would certianly not last for very long. The British were actually very perceptive in reaching that conclusion.
Ok there were a few hitches along the way. The colonies created a reasonably workable federal framework. But the path that the British laid out and the path that history had actually took had clearly converged by 1913.
What this means today is that the custodians of the “English Language” system are the General Officers of the 5 nations named above. This system is a single military industrial complex united by a common language and chain of command, The General Officers of the system are PEERS. The General Officers of appendiges to the system are not peers although a lot of effort might go into making them think that they are.
The primary appendiges to the system are Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and possibly Egypt. The institutional leadership of these countries is 100% completely controled by English Military Industrial Complex (MIC). Though it is possible that Egypt has the possiblity of escaping this control like Iran did.
A second tier of nations, the NATO and EU nations, along with Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan and possibly other nations in South East Asia have great diffiiculty in exersicing any independence in their policies that would benifit them to the expense of the 5 nations.
Here is what I consider to be the most important consideration of this understanding of world power.
That is that all public disagreements between the governments of the 5 nations along with Israel, and Saudi Arabia are nothing more than exersices in public disinformation. There are no doubt disagreements over how to proceed among the peers of the 5 nations. But these disagreements are never revealed to the public.