Josh writes: Apologies for the lack of cartoons this summer but I’ve been beavering away on a follow up to the Subisdy Sam story produced earlier in the year. Today we are launching ‘Tiny the Turbine’ written by Lyndsey Ward and illustrated by me.
Lyndsey writes:
Tiny the Turbine is a story that really is for children. Following Subsidy Sam’s release it was clear that there was a need for something that would help children understand the negative impacts of large scale wind developments. Happily Josh agreed and we have worked together to produce this second story specifically for children. Subsidy Sam is a dark tale but Tiny the Turbine is a moral and uplifting story and shows that it is possible to succeed in fighting against the bad things in life no matter how daunting it may seem.
If you head over to this page on the Cartoons by Josh website you can download the story and, if you haven’t yet, donate something, all funds greatly appreciated. Please share on social media and generally spread the word – that would also be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks,
“Wonky the Windmill” would have been better.
“Wonky the Wobbly Windmill” ?
Windmills must come in bunches. They are not ever found wasting money by themselves.
So, Wonky, Wobbly, Wimbly, Wiggles, Wibbles, Wobbles, and Woebles are needed.
But only one can can be awake at a time, since windmills only work 1 day in seven.
[Wiffles instead? .mod]
Sorry .mod, Wiffle’s are for kids…
Wiffle
hollow, perforated plastic ball, registered trademark name (The Wiffle Ball Inc., Shelton, Connecticut, U.S.), attested from 1954. According to the company, designed in 1953 by David N. Mullany “in response to a lack of field space and numerous broken windows by his baseball-playing son,” the name based on whiff (q.v.), baseball slang for a missed swing.
[Ouch. The mods are sorry we swung at that. .mod]
Spiky the money sucking bird slicer?
You know? For kids!
RA Cook: “Windmills” in fact often come in singles. Look on the high plains of the US at all the solitary isolated windmills pumping water into stock tanks. Look around the Caribbean and you will see lots of old windmills used in the sugar industry before industrialization.
Even wind turbines sometimes go in singles. See the old article on WUWT in the school in Britain that installed a wind turbine (economics be darned).
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/06/wind-turbine-fail-school-left-holding-the-bag-for-53000/
And for a bit of humour, there is this from the MJ capital of Canada:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/magic-school-bus-home-for-sale-in-kootenays-1.3165694
Although sometimes they come in pairs. Is that a breeder reactor?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/04/27/fail-busted-wind-turbines-give-college-whopping-negative-99-14-return-on-investment/
And for a firmly tongue in cheek view of “free” wind power:
http://www.canadianculture.com/geezer/jack14.html
And there is lots more. Sad comedy of unintended consequences.
Or using a current naming meme: Windy McTurbineface.
Windy McWindyface.
Excellent Ms.Ward. You hit the nail bang on the head. You may have penned this for children,however it is written so simply and straight forward,that even the eco-terrorists should be able to handle it. Bravo.
Cecil the Converted Ceiling Fan?
Arnold the Alternator?
Dick the DC Wind Generator?
but I’m gonna go with
Wobbles the Incontiguous Eyesore
Incontiguous with what? Incontiguous with itself? First I hurt my brain thinking about thermodynamics. Now this ….
Well, you cleverly had me click on Subisdy Sam to affirm it is Subsidy Sam. Sly. 😉
Way to go, Lindsey and Josh! This type of thing is EXACTLY what we need to deprogram the brainwashing. THESE are the kids of the future. The current, brainwashed, teens and 20-somethings are soooo not with it anymore. There is hope.
Congratulations on completing this project!
And, yes, Josh — I was hoping all was well with you. We have missed your fine cartoons.
“That was enough for Mr McWeasel. “Pack up lads we are off; we hated
Giggly Glen anyway”
What happened to Trasher and the other monstruous turbines? I guess Mr McWeasel did not take them with him, but left them as useless and hazardous waste for the villagers to take care of on their own expences?
This is too close to propaganda for my taste. Adopting the tactics of the alarmists won’t convince them, and it is way too political to show in schools.
Why can’t we just say “they don’t work”? It’s that simple. Our strength has always been the simple facts of our arguments: “warming will be mild”, “results of warming aren’t that bad”, “the methods to avert CO2 don’t work”, and finally “It’s better to just continue as usual”
Any small child can understand these things. We don’t have to stoop this low.
It’s not propaganda – it’s the truth. Wind turbines have been imposed on local communities in the UK exactly as described in the book and the impacts have been exactly as described. Children in UK schools have been subjected to wind industry propaganda for many years.
+100000
It isn’t aimed at children, but their parents I suspect.
Children are very good at spotting lies, adults,not so much.
Owned by a “coal barron”?
Please.
These books are awful. Such good arguments could have been made instead of this anti-development NIMBYism.
This is not anti-development NIMBYism. It is anti-wind development which has had a devastating impact on the UK countryside, its wildlife and its local communities, not to mention its impact on electricity prices, fuel poverty, energy security and jobs in the real economy.
No it hasn’t….
None of those things is true about the UK.
@Griff
YES, it has. Everything Philip Bratby wrote about the effect of wind turbines in the UK is exactly right. I know. I live there.
And in New Zealand too. Griff is so uninformed.
Glad you ‘enjoyed’ them so much but there is no need to resort to insults. Nothing to do with ‘nimbyism’ at all. If children are subjected to propaganda in schools they should be given the opportunity to form their own opinions and hear the other side too and, like it or not, this is the other side.
Let’s see you write a story that perpetuates the leftist meme that all rich people are evil and all developers are evil. And you don’t want insults? You’ve implied rich people are evil. How about the farmer realized he could make money, take out the rich landowner. Then you go on to say the threat of violence will get those whom you disagree with to stop. I would not give this to any child.
How about this Farmer gets money, moved away, people show him data about birds dying etc. He didn’t realize there would be unintended consequences and fixed the problem.
This is not a “moral” tale in the sense that the term is usually intended. It is anything but moral unless “moral” is ‘allowed to be defined anew in each case as morality being equivalent to the stance of the user.
The message intentionally and clearly being conveyed to children is not the stated one but rather the “hidden in plain view one” that violence, and destruction of that which we do not approve of is both a commendable and effective approach. [If that is not what is being conveyed, both intentionally and actually, I’d be genuinely interested in seeing an explanation of how this can be so.]
Secondary, but “well up there” is the lack of more than a minimalist attempt to explain what is being conveyed. There are some important messages on this subject which could usefully be taught but I’d be surprised if most children got more out of this long time other than “wind turbines are bad”.
‘Preaching to the choir’ seems to go down well all too often with those of either extreme in a polarised debate, but the charges of anti-Science, child indoctrination and similar are all too easy to validly apply if approaches like this are taken.
I’m not rich, but a small donation in THANKS to Josh for the ‘much merriment’ he provides 🙂
Great cartoon completely wasted on a storyline that supposed to teach children that wind generators are harmful and run by greedy evil people. Unlike those involved in the coal power industry which the government subsidising to the tune of many billions of dollars a year and the health issues caused by the pollution, which is also a huge cost to the population.
..LOL..Tax subsidies for the coal industry ?? When ? Where ? What in the world are you smoking ?
OMG, your children’s book suggests the naughty wind farmer can only be stopped by threatening to blow him up? Is it too late to change the ending to something less extreme?
Agreed. The threat of violence at the end isn’t a good message for children, particularly since it’s so commonplace a resolution of disputes these days. Besides, the McWeasels have vastly more armaments so this sets up children to think a mere threat is sufficient to send them running. Reality will bite them very hard if they try it. The story needs a wiser ending.
Talking of useless tiny turbines, an article on David Cameron’s useless turbine would be nice. He was so indoctrinated, he came to be prime minister of the UK professing to be the leader of the greenest political party. And he promptly stuck a micro-wind turbine on his roof. But the turbine noise annoyed his neighbours, it did not have planning permission, and produced about 7w on a good day. And so it was promptly taken down again, by court order.
What I would like to know, is how our education system was so poor, and our leaders so brainwashed, that a new prime minister thought he could run his household from a micro-turbine. It beggers belief that anyone could be quite so dumb, and yet Cameron was the prime of the primates, who was going to lead the nation for the next seven years or so. How did that happen?
Ralph
“What I would like to know, is how our education system was so poor, and our leaders so brainwashed”…
Yes the education system is called ETON.
It’s a precondition for being “in power” in that backward little island on the edge of the Atlantic.
It’s been that way for about 2 centuries.
It allows said “leaders” to get into bed with such savoury characters as hacked murdered kiddies cell phones (NOTW) then go into denial about it all.
Tuska is certainly near the knuckle but he could be planning to disable the turbines without using his gun. His defence would be the usual one of necessity employed by Greenpeace I assume. I liked the reference to Paul Scott’s ‘Staying On’.
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/greenpeace-shuts-down-coal-fired-power-station-20071008
“I can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking bulldozers and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power stations.”
Al Gore, 2007
Can I just say that this is a gift for the CAGW lobby – a terribly contrived story supposedly for children which advocates violent confrontation is not one I would share with my own. Or anyone else’s.
It’s the climate equivalent of a Westboro Baptist tract, and will be just as reviled as tacky and tasteless propaganda
Please stop disseminating this product.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
..Maybe a bulldozer would have been more appropriate than a tank, but the idea is still valid .
The idea is still the same. It’s a badly written piece of political propaganda without any wit or charm to dilute the acidity.
..You must fight fire with fire…nuff said !
And comparing it to a Westboro Baptist tract is your idea of wit and charm?
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
Most cartoons have someone or thing flattened, hit with something, run over or pushed off something high. Kids love it. I was brought up on cartoons like Tom and Jerry and The Roadrunner. Never did me any harm. Hope those that think this is violent don’t let their children ever see such things. This story is what some of us know happens when turbines are built and it is right it is told.
That maybe so, but if you’re going to write about the destructive and useless waste of resources poured into wind power, then write for the adults not the children.
Did you miss ‘Subsidy Sam’?
A point elegantly made by the ‘Itchy and Scratchy Show’
I think John A. is looking for his “Safe Space” !!
you should go to mid Wales and see what people think!
It’s pretty similar to the tale in the book!
Take a region of outstanding natural beauty visibly devoid of most human influences and VANDALISE IT for ever.
The old lead and silver mines were a pimple on the surface compared with the Welsh wind farms!
> It was a very happy to place to live.
You may want to edit the second sentence in the story.
What’s wrong with turbines?
Scottish tourists don’t seem to avoid Scotland because of them:
http://www.gov.scot/resource/doc/214910/0057316.pdf
Not damaging peoples health:
http://www.aweablog.org/wind-turbine-syndrome-farm-hosts-tell-very-different-story/
I live in Scotland and this report about tourism was done by someone who has been employed by the wind industry fighting objectors at public inquiries. It has been completely discredited. Tourism businesses themselves say their own visitors are shocked at what is happening here and many say they will not return. There are hundreds of people worldwide who are now reporting health impacts from living too close to industrial turbines. The truth is coming out. People are having to leave their homes. The wind industry and politicians are in denial. Anything that opens the eyes of others to what is really happening is worthwhile. I stand by this story and Subsidy Sam and am delighted there have been far more positive responses than negative.
I went to Orkney and stood right under a big wind turbine – very interesting experience!
Hasn’t ever put me off Scotland… would it put off a German, who likely has more at home?
Who, ever, has left their home?
I cited the Australian experience on health – there is no impact. Where’s your (medical?) evidence?
“Griff August 22, 2016 at 7:48 am
I went to Orkney and stood right under a big wind turbine – very interesting experience!”
You can do that in Wellington, New Zealand, what is your point? I will tell you. That turbine…is far away from the earshot of people, and it is just ONE turbine.
I can spot bollox at several miles as I’m a sound engineer.
I also happen to have one of those d..mn great turbines at spitting distance from my workplace.
There is a whole spectra of really nasty noise and noise pollution generated by those bl..dy things.
They even make noises when there’s no wind, to turn the things so as the bearings don’t develop flats on them…
I can hear them from inside the double glazed flat which is another 800m further away, so don’t give me cr..p about them being innocent power generating units, one of which went up in flames on April 10, 2015.
https://youtu.be/wp3L9IfYGhg
Since they introduced them in our country electricity which used to be the cheapest in Europe has shot up 25%.
All the watts we ever needed for the last 40 yrs were made with Oil shale and hydro, so WTF is this intermittent source of aggravation apart from stupid eco lobby from Brussels?
Bird Monster, Very Bad Man
It’s a cutesy book, but it denies reality in every way. The Boxelder Canyon wind plant is starting, in spite of people will lots and lots of money and lawyers fighting it. I mean very rich people opposing it. And yet the ground is being pillaged and the ranchers are drooling over the government checks they are looking forward to. A tank would never have made any difference at all. These people do not give up. Chokecherry/Sierra Madre has been trying since 2008. Now they’re whining and moaning that people in Wyoming want to increase the wind production tax, saying they can’t put the 1000 turbines in with such an increase. The vampire legislators in Albany and Carbon country are wailing and moaning they won’t get to completely destroy Wyoming open spaces, bleed the counties dry (with promised income that never materializes) and send electricity to California, which keeps itspristine landscapes and the income goes to Colorado. Why? Because in Wyoming, many, many legislators would sell their wife, kids and grandmother to the devil if you waive money in front of them. Greed. And greed doesn’t just stop because a tank shows up. Greed is forever.
“Greed.
And greed doesn’t just stop because a tank shows up. Greed is forever.”
Greed was Thatcher’s mantra – it got us to where she wanted, or thought we wanted to be.
Just materialists, dead easy to manipulate.
You only have to take a look at Yanukovych in Ukraine to understand what greed finally causes when the Tanks do show up. Those were bred by ever more greed and envy.
Greed corrupts, because it requires power to satisfy itself constantly with a bigger and bigger sense of entitlement, and envy feeds it.
Unrestrained greed and absolute power go perfectly together, both corrupting absolutely, then lots of innocent people end up dead.