The Talga Bar

[WheresTheMonkey]

I have just returned and escaped the heat. I was on holiday in the Alps in Ammergau, Allgäu, Karwendel, Wetterstein and Berchtesgaden. It was fantastic! Such peace above the clouds! Simply marvellous. Cowbells and good cheese...
View attachment 68854
May I missed a snippet?

Wow what a great photo. It looks spectacular.

Mrs Monkey is currently researching another Euro jaunt for us in October next year. She wants to do a river cruise from Budapest upto Passau. Then over to Greece to rendezvous with friends from Sydney.

After that she is planning a Euro driving tour (i get to do the driving of course) from Paris upto Calais or thereabouts then down the French Atlantic coast to the French Basque then who knows where..........Germany ????..................???????

 

[WheresTheMonkey]

BTW... just saw @JoMo68 's trouble to link here in hot crapper. What a childish idiotic behavior to censor links to other social media platforms. I can only shake my head on this.

She's lucky not to cop a life ban. That's why I was banned as I linked to here way back when TSE first started

 

[cosors]

Wow what a great photo. It looks spectacular.

Mrs Monkey is currently researching another Euro jaunt for us in October next year. She wants to do a river cruise from Budapest upto Passau. Then over to Greece to rendezvous with friends from Sydney.

After that she is planning a Euro driving tour (i get to do the driving of course) from Paris upto Calais or thereabouts then down the French Atlantic coast to the French Basque then who knows where..........Germany ????..................???????

This reads very exciting and beautiful!
I would be happy to give you tips if you need any. Your planning seems to be set or solid. The Danube or Danubius (Latin) or Donau ist very beautiful.
Normandy is particularly good for eating. For driving, there are more beautiful landscapes that are also more open.
I know France very well from my holidays and from driving. I was travelling there a lot in almost all regions. And some of them are simply fantastic for driving holidays.

Feel free to chat to me if there is a need for tips and if the planning is not ~ strictly regulated (?)

 

[Semmel]

The funny

So what is so good about Danish ice cream is it creamier than German ice cream ? I must admit I do love the odd salted caramel ice cream from time to time

part is, there is nothing special about it. However it's nice quality soft ice cream which is rare in Germany unless you go to McDonald's, but we almost never do. They also have good toppings for it, like chocolate chunks etc. You can see danish people walk about with a 3 ball ice cream and a huge mountain of soft ice on top. No idea how they can eat that in one go, I would be stuffed with less than half of it but it's kind of a different ice cream culture. Just be careful to shop around a bit, don't go to the Langnese branded shops, though they are decent too.

Salted caramel is also one of my favorites. Plenty other kinds. Including liquorice ice cream and toppings if you are into that. I don't like it though.

 

[Semmel]

I have just returned and escaped the heat. I was on holiday in the Alps in Ammergau, Allgäu, Karwendel, Wetterstein and Berchtesgaden. It was fantastic! Such peace above the clouds! Simply marvellous. Cowbells and good cheese...
View attachment 68854
May I missed a snippet?

Beautiful.. long time since I went to the alps. Maybe next year! need to be agreed with family of course!

 

[cosors]

... I even read 2/3 of a book, "The player of games" by Iain M. Banks. Can recommend!

I finally found time to read the book On the Trail of Stardust by Jon Larsen. I got a small microscope and a powerful magnet especially for this discovery
Now there are six more books in the pipeline.

 

[JoMo68]

I

She's lucky not to cop a life ban. That's why I was banned as I linked to here way back when TSE first started

I’m living on the edge! To be honest, I wouldn’t care if I got a life ban from that cesspool of a site.

 

[cosors]

Semmel, your best Shiraz please!
Who likes to drink with me?

Cheers!

 

[Semmel]

Shiraz, coming in!

 

[Diogenese]

Semmel, your best Shiraz please!
Who likes to drink with me?

Cheers!

Sorry I missed the breakfast drinks - yes, a little shiraz on the cornflakes please - both hands.

 

[cosors]

Sorry I missed the breakfast drinks - yes, a little shiraz on the cornflakes please - both hands.

 

[cosors]

Apart from up there in Norrbotten, I'm actually not particularly political I think. I was just at the toilet here in peace and quiet and there was a note lying around. Read this. Somehow it tries to put the movement of our time into words in a matter-of-fact way? I don't know.


Asylum, identity politics, the tendency to lecture, the downfall of the Greens: Germany is currently experiencing the end of the ‘shift to the left’ and post-material dominance. Social researcher Andreas Herteux looks at the background and casts a glance into a possible future.
From the migration debate to the climate crisis and identity politics: for years, post-material ideas, as those immaterial goals such as environmental awareness, individual self-realisation, global justice, anti-colonialism, humanist internationalism, border-free cosmopolitanism or ethical priorities, have dominated the political and media discourse.

Fundamentally, and this is an important point, these are ideals that in many cases cannot be criticised, but some of the attempts to implement them in real politics or to shape society accordingly tended to claim absoluteness, which often only allowed for limited discussion and occasionally lost the sense of what was possible. There was too often a feeling of being exposed to a lecturing policy of no alternatives, which surprisingly often showed little interest in people's diverse needs or marginalised them by pointing to a higher purpose.

For many years, it was therefore not possible to find a balance between idealism and pragmatism and this is also the reason why the dominance of post-material action is now coming to an end.

But before we turn our attention to this interesting process, we must first dispel a popular myth, as the successful march of such ideas has always been wrongly equated with a ‘shift to the left’.

Post-material is not left-wing
In reality, left-wing ideals and post-materialist ideas have overlaps, but they are not congruent. Some critics may now protest, because much of what can be defined theoretically becomes blurred in practice and yet it seems relevant to point out the differences in order to understand our present.

Post-materialism, and this should not be concealed, is certainly more susceptible to left-wing interventions than right-wing or religiously-motivated ones. Just think of Fridays for Future, where, as it became increasingly well known, louder anti-capitalist, anti-Semitic or anti-Western tones were and are suddenly heard, which have plunged the organisation into a deep crisis of identity and direction, perhaps in the medium to long term - at least this is what surveys suggest - even into insignificance. Whether one should now speak of left-wing extremist infiltration here, as some media have done, is an open question.

In some political parties, however, it was the other way round. Post-material ideas, often put forward by the parties' youth organisations, have displaced classic left-wing issues. This is particularly evident in the SPD and the Left Party. Minority politics is then more important than a stable pension. Neo-colonialism is more relevant than affordable housing. The classic worker becomes a marginalised figure, but more on that later.

This already indicates that on a social and individual level, post-materialist and left-wing positions can also be opposites. But let's be more specific.

The post-material milieu in Germany
There is an entire milieu in Germany that is referred to as post-materialist and comprises around 12 per cent of the population. As a rule, these people are educated, tend to be middle-aged, live in urban areas, have assets and a good income. Civil servants are not uncommon, financial worries play a subordinate role and people vote disproportionately for the Greens. Basic needs are satisfied. It is time for higher ideals. It makes sense to stand up for them.

Consequently, it is also a characteristic of this reality of life that people are openly in favour of world peace, anti-colonialism and the global South. A commitment to the highest goals that is also part of one's own self-realisation, which is also driven by post-material thoughts.

The second in particular must be mentioned, because it is also about the development of the ego. In this dual behaviour, there is often surprisingly little room for issues such as social justice or the needs of the population, which is often regarded as privileged.

This is not necessarily linked to ignorance, but a milieu, as fluid as the boundaries may be, is always a bubble, which often leads to the bizarre situation that people are very familiar with the needs of Africa, but not at all with the problems in the difficult neighbourhoods a few kilometres away. A socio-ecological transformation, which may have its merits, is advocated, but the effects on industry and jobs are not placed centre stage.

A typical, even more concrete example from this legislative period is the Heating Act, which, with a view to saving the global climate, is basically a good thing, but would have placed a massive additional burden on citizens if there had not been massive resistance. Idealistic goals justify a risky reorganisation of the economy and, when it comes to open borders, the idea of fulfilling a global obligation is often more important than some pressing challenges such as overburdened social systems and local authorities or the general housing shortage.

Post-material ideas are therefore not necessarily left-wing, but form a completely new political category that, in name alone, has detached itself from materialistic goals such as economic growth or security.

The triumph of post-materialism
Nevertheless, for a long time they were a success story that began sometime in the 1990s, when the Western-style liberal-democratic system seemed to have finally asserted itself.

Often only of an intellectual nature at the universities, the ideas slowly seeped into the minds of the following generations and thus also into society, in which the new academic elite made a career and often - and now we are already approaching the 2010s - took up top positions at the interfaces of the media, lobby organisations and politics, among others. In addition, there was a will to shape things. The post-material reality of life, which was often not mentioned at all or much smaller in the many social science models of a decade ago, is broadcast-conscious. It wants to lead and yes, also educate. It is a leading milieu.

Parties such as the Greens benefited from this shift in social priorities. Younger people brought their ideas with them, the media often met them with favour and, little by little, post-material topics dominated large parts of the discourse.

The SPD and the Left Party followed suit. To complete the historical picture, this also led the CDU to orientate itself in this direction. The opening of the borders is a good example of this: a fragmented society in Germany
At the same time, and this is also part of the truth, there was a lack of a corresponding counterweight. Conservatism and liberalism were intellectually at the end of their tether and social democracy was looking for a way out of the legacy of the Schröder era.

There was a lack of understanding for the fact that society in Germany had changed. It was fragmenting into more and more realities of life with very different views of the right way to think, act and live, splintering and slipping more and more into the milieu struggle:

Precarious people (approx. 8 per cent of the population) are often concerned with acceptable survival as well as material connection to the middle class. Hedonists (approx. 9 per cent) primarily want to have fun and consume. The Performers are concerned with performance (10 per cent).

The somewhat older Traditionals (approx. 10 per cent) want as little change as possible to their own petit bourgeois lifestyle, while the very young neo-ecological milieu (8 per cent) demands exactly that. The nostalgic bourgeois (approx. 11 per cent) needs a secure and orderly framework that only changes slowly, while the expeditious (approx. 10 per cent) reject precisely this narrowness and always strive for the new and want to tear down the old boundaries.
The adaptive-pragmatic centre (approx. 12 per cent) is more adaptable, but needs to be convinced. The well-heeled conservative upscale milieu (11 per cent) sees itself as the defender of the old order, while the post-materialist reality of life (approx. 12 per cent) mentioned above wants to assert its ideas of wokeness, diversity and justice for all in a conscious manner.

Presumably, the individualising effect of the internet and the migration movement from 2015 onwards has created many more, but unfortunately we do not know exactly, as no corresponding data is available.

Overall, the post-material ideas and their influence therefore came up against a fragmented society that was struggling with itself and for orientation and therefore did not find it particularly difficult to take on a dominant role.
Collective individualism undermines post-material supremacy
An intellectual counterweight, as honestly as one should be and unfortunately must repeat, did not exist.

However, there was an invisible companion, collective individualism, which in turn ensured that the post-materialist ideals also fragmented and in some cases either formed almost sectarian small groups or contradictions arose, for example the campaign for women's rights on the one hand and support for the establishment of patriarchal structures in Germany on the other.

The concept of collective individualism, just to mention it, refers to the idea that individuals in a society are increasingly shaped by digital and technological frameworks that both enable individual self-realisation and at the same time create invisible, collective structures. In such a system, people can seemingly make their own decisions while still being embedded in predetermined frameworks that control and guide their behaviour. But this is only in passing.
Loss of post-material dominance
From around 2020, a slow decline in post-material dominance began in Germany, which had only just reached its absolute peak with Fridays for Future and 26 per cent in some polls for the Greens.

The main reason for this was that in many milieus, basic needs, whether material or immaterial, remained unsatisfied or were even marginalised. In some cases, the values or lifestyles of the respective groups themselves were called into question.

In addition, the aforementioned collective individualism intensified the desire for self-development and basically utilised a post-material value against the dominance of post-materialism. Kronos eats its children.

This first led to milieu conflicts, then to milieu struggles and finally to fragile milieu coalitions of the most diverse realities of life, which were ultimately directed against post-material supremacy. If we want to give a practical example of this, we should refer to the traffic light policy, which managed to set numerous milieus in Germany against each other that would not have had anything in common under normal circumstances. Such a mechanism also creates protest and marginal voters who are not, or at least were not, voters at all.
However, such a shaky union is always temporary, because it is only united by the rejection of idealistic exaggeration and will splinter again. Until it breaks up, however, it is easy for extremists in particular to juggle with them unless a policy of constructive pragmatism is found in the centre and interests are balanced out again. Whether this balance can be found again in Germany remains to be seen.

Future prospects - What happens next?
Well, the age of post-material dominance in politics and society seems to be over. Collective individualism will prevail. However, it is a force that needs no drivers. It works. It doesn't have to be abstract here either, because the consequences are very tangible. A changed work ethic, the not at all unjustified desire for self-development, the declining interest in community, the exaggeration of the actual self on the net, the shift in priorities, changes in values, frustration with a smaller role in society - these are all visible signs.

It will be a world in which the individual strives for individual fulfilment, driven by the mechanisms of digitalisation. Some may also strive for higher post-material, left-wing, right-wing, religious or other goals, but the same laws apply. The younger the person, the more visible the signs. The homo stimulus already exists.

The realities of life, on the other hand, will continue to disintegrate and if this process is slowed down, then only if basic needs are not satisfied or the self-image is attacked.

Critics will now argue that this is only a possible future scenario. That is a justified objection. Everything can be shaped.

...somehow I come up with one per cent to much. Maybe that's why it was lying there?
Who reads that much in a bar except me on the toilet

 

[Semmel]

Attempted Tonkotsu Miso Ramen for the first time tonight.

Boiled chicken wings and beef bones for 12 hours. Should have used whole soup chicken instead. Traditional recipe is with pork bones but pork is difficult with family. Also I like the taste of beef better than pork.

Towards the end, I added onions, carrots, garlic, ginger, scallions and cabbage. Should have left the cabbage out, was too dominant and basically ruined the broth.

Boiled some nori in a separate pot which is usually for sushi because I couldn't get konbu leaves. Will order online next time instead. Also my dried thuna flakes were gone.. no idea where they walked to, so umami was not great.

Added miso at the end, but miso wasn't the right type. Need to be more careful selecting it next time. Package said "light" but it was red. It had good flavor but was too dominant. At least it masked some of the cabbage.

Tare was spot on, still have plenty left for next time. Used light and dark soy sauce, 5:2 ratio, water, molasses and salt. Perfect combo!

Flavored chicken oil was ok but not great. I cooked minced onions with ginger and garlic until golden brown. Can improve. Not sure this did what it's supposed to do.

End result: medium experience.. far too inferior for the effort I put in. Not the taste I was looking and lounging for since I came back from Japan. Need more expensive.

Also family wasn't convinced. Well, they never went to Japan and don't know what's missing in their life.. so they are not impressed.

Anyway, it was first try and I learned a lot. Next time I'll be better prepared. And now I also did it once, so I'm not as nose-in-phone all the time to check recipes and processes.

 

[ACinEur]

I have a small confession to make, I sold out all my holdings at 79.5 cent average earlier in the year at a 30% loss…. Haven’t felt I should contribute here since then, but have been keeping an eye on ‘progress’. I may well buy back in, but will need to see the court outcome first…maybe I’ll miss out as TLG rallies back over $1 quickly.
I still hold a couple of other European Green Energy stocks and they are both equally as painful, one with a land access agreement that can’t be finalised which has also been going on for over a year. So it’s not just Talga…
Let’s just hope Trump doesn’t win as that will completely kill the energy transition.
And on another note on VW as someone posted above, I’m also hearing that they are in trouble (as I have mentioned previously I have a couple of friends who are in the auto parts manufacturing business in Germany) so fairly reliable sources
Anyway, best of luck all and see you on the other side of the court decision
AC

 

[Semmel]

AC, looks like that was a solid strategy. My average is about 1.30 AUD, so hurting quite a bit here. If I had known the Swedish legal system is so broken, I probably would have never invested. Talga is such a good company and approach, it hurts a lot to see it vilified in the press and hindered for political shenanigans. I think it has a good chance to be finally approved within a few months. However, I have my doubts that the contracts that Mark has alluded to are still in the pipeline. I cannot imagine a customer sitting on his hands this long. I expect they all went into the compost and we will have to re-negotiate once we have the green light. I hope there is, but I dont believe there is a quick succession pipeline of contracts waiting for the SC decision. I also think the evaluation models are out the window. We missed that boat. We will not be able to sell at the premium (i.e. 12$/kg) we expected. I think we can expect something along the lines of $6/kg to $8/kg (all US$). Still a profit but not as much as expected. Lets hope for the best.

 

[freewind]

A question about the “loyalty options”. I only get these displayed in DEGIRO.
Nothing is displayed in my comdirect custody account.

Does anyone have the same problem?

 

[Semmel]

A question about the “loyalty options”. I only get these displayed in DEGIRO.
Nothing is displayed in my comdirect custody account.

Does anyone have the same problem?

Same here, I am using the Brokerage via DZ Bank. Lets see what happens. If nothing shows up by the end of the week, I will call them.

 

[curiousmagpie]

AC, looks like that was a solid strategy. My average is about 1.30 AUD, so hurting quite a bit here. If I had known the Swedish legal system is so broken, I probably would have never invested. Talga is such a good company and approach, it hurts a lot to see it vilified in the press and hindered for political shenanigans. I think it has a good chance to be finally approved within a few months. However, I have my doubts that the contracts that Mark has alluded to are still in the pipeline. I cannot imagine a customer sitting on his hands this long. I expect they all went into the compost and we will have to re-negotiate once we have the green light. I hope there is, but I dont believe there is a quick succession pipeline of contracts waiting for the SC decision. I also think the evaluation models are out the window. We missed that boat. We will not be able to sell at the premium (i.e. 12$/kg) we expected. I think we can expect something along the lines of $6/kg to $8/kg (all US$). Still a profit but not as much as expected. Lets hope for the best.

Good post semmel, you’ve always seemed like one of the more sensible posters here. But Careful, getting close to being called a downramper!

I agree with this of course. The ore body is good. The idea is good. But with pricing like that the economics now only stack up at large scale, not 20,000tpa. The problem I have with this is that the capital intensity and risk of brining on-line a 100,000tpa+ plant means I can’t see how a $200m company gets it funded on terms that don’t dilute shareholders into oblivion.

I think the best case from here is after SC approval an OEM takes this out quickly for a 50% premium to ensure their long term supply.

I’m sorry to say semmel I would suggest with a large degree of confidence the share price is never going back above $1.30. Mark’s margin call was the final nail in the coffin of this thesis for me.

 

[DAH]

AC, looks like that was a solid strategy. My average is about 1.30 AUD, so hurting quite a bit here. If I had known the Swedish legal system is so broken, I probably would have never invested. Talga is such a good company and approach, it hurts a lot to see it vilified in the press and hindered for political shenanigans. I think it has a good chance to be finally approved within a few months. However, I have my doubts that the contracts that Mark has alluded to are still in the pipeline. I cannot imagine a customer sitting on his hands this long. I expect they all went into the compost and we will have to re-negotiate once we have the green light. I hope there is, but I dont believe there is a quick succession pipeline of contracts waiting for the SC decision. I also think the evaluation models are out the window. We missed that boat. We will not be able to sell at the premium (i.e. 12$/kg) we expected. I think we can expect something along the lines of $6/kg to $8/kg (all US$). Still a profit but not as much as expected. Lets hope for the best.

Hi Semmel,
I was happy to hear that you're now more encouraged by the recycling, having reviewed the pending patent - fingers crossed as it thus far appears like our tech could be very scalable.
Re your above points, I believe our customers are ready to help break that dam wall . ACC & Verkor very much appear to have a strong desire to use a local supply chain. So if they walked away from TLG, who will they use? In addition, pending offtakes certainly would've been vetted before any EIB finance was conditionally signed off, so any change with customers rescinding such pending deals would have a flow on effect and I'm very confident we shareholders would need to know about it. And don't forget, processes within the refinery are set to be customised for such customers, and expansions are on the back of their stated demand.
As far as pricing goes, I'm more optomistic than your $6k to $8k. If we were signing 12 month contracts maybe, but we're signing multi year, even decade long contracts. Short term Chinese based noise doesn't dictate those price discussions. The DFS guidance was for LOM, run off metrics without considering any future Chinese tariffs, battery passport demands or the recent anode restriction scare mongering by the Chinese. Its never been more clear that the supply chain needs to move away from China. There is the likely reality that many of Talgas nth hemisphere competitors cannot make a profit at $8k and those projects wouldn't go forward. ~$10k has been discussed in Nth America of late as being needed. And do t forget that the anode accounts for only around 10% of the cell cost. If it hasnt already, reality will soon kick in for OEM's and cell makers that they either pay the ex-China price or best of luck to them... It's hard to see all this right now, but revisit this in 2030, when FEOC and battery passports are the norm, the CRMA numbers are due, consumers are much more savvy as to where the car ingredients came from, and I'm confident the forest looks much more healthy for us all.

 

[scep]

A question about the “loyalty options”. I only get these displayed in DEGIRO.
Nothing is displayed in my comdirect custody account.

Does anyone have the same problem?

DEGIRO and SAXO bank show the loyalty options. Still awaiting them to show up at International Brokers.