Wednesday, September 30. 2009
Via Icecap:
Leading UK Climate Scientists Must Explain or Resign
By Jenniffer Marohasy
MOST scientific sceptics have been dismissive of the various reconstructions of temperature which suggest 1998 is the warmest year of the past millennium. Our case has been significantly bolstered over the last week with statistician Steve McIntyre finally getting access to data used by Keith Briffa, Tim Osborn and Phil Jones to support the idea that there has been an unprecedented upswing in temperatures over the last hundred years - the infamous hockey stick graph.
Mr McIntyre’s analysis of the data - which he had been asking for since 2003 - suggests that scientists at the Climate Research Unit of the United Kingdom’s Bureau of Meteorology have been using only a small subset of the available data to make their claims that recent years have been the hottest of the last millennium. When the entire data set is used, Mr McIntyre claims that the hockey stick shape disappears completely. (Yamal: A “Divergence” Problem, by Steve McIntyre, 27 September 2009)
Mr McIntyre has previously showed problems with the mathematics behind the ‘hockey stick’. But scientists at the Climate Research Centre, in particular Dr Briffa, have continuously republished claiming the upswing in temperatures over the last 100 years is real and not an artifact of the methodology used - as claimed by Mr McIntyre. However, these same scientists have denied Mr McIntyre access to all the data. Recently they were forced to make more data available to Mr McIntyre after they published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society - a journal which unlike Nature and Science has strict policies on data archiving which it enforces.
This week’s claims by Steve McInyre that scientists associated with the UK Meteorology Bureau have been less than diligent are serious and suggest some of the most defended building blocks of the case for anthropogenic global warming are based on the indefensible when the methodology is laid bare.
This sorry saga also raises issues associated with how data is archived at the UK Meteorological Bureau with in complete data sets that spuriously support the case for global warming being promoted while complete data sets are kept hidden from the public - including from scientific sceptics like Steve McIntyre.
It is indeed time leading scientists at the Climate Research Centre associated with the UK Meteorological Bureau explain how Mr McIntyre is in error or resign. See post here.
Looks like they were cherry-picking data to get the results they wanted. Why?
Quoted at Conspiracy as Joke of the Day. It begins:
DEMOCRATS: DO YOU REALLY WANT TO REFORM HEALTH CARE, OR DON'T YOU? Philip K. Howard in the Wall Street Journal:
On Aug. 25, at a town-hall meeting in Reston, Va., Howard Dean, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, was asked why there is nothing in the health-care proposals about liability reform. Mr. Dean replied: "The reason that tort reform is not in the bill is because the people who wrote it did not want to take on the trial lawyers. . . . And that is the plain and simple truth."
...A few thousand trial lawyers are blocking reform that would benefit 300 million Americans. This is not just your normal special-interest politics. It's a scandal—it is as if international-trade policy was being crafted in order to get fees for customs agents.
Read it all. Link above.
Polanski is on record as claiming that all guys "want to f- young girls." Perhaps some do, but guys with young daughters tend not to approve of the notion: the idea tends to make them go load their guns. Althouse wonders about the pedophilia of Hollywood types.
I would just like to offer the comment that, from a psychological standpoint, desire for 13 year-old girls is not really pedophilia. In the past, 13 year-old women routinely married and, without spending time on a search, I wonder how many girls in NYC get pregant at 13? I'll bet it's many.
No, the issue is not whether men (or women, for that matter) are sometimes attracted to young people, or whether 13 year-olds can be sexy witches, or whether 44 year-olds can be drawn to young females.
The issue is the law. Forcible sex, and sex with the underaged, are illegal. Admittedly the latter is rarely enforced when the guy is underaged too but, regardless of our sexual inclinations and fantasies, or our opinions about every law, we all implicitly agree to obey the laws by virtue of our citizenship - or to accept the consequences like the adults we are presumed to be. That's Adulthood 101.
Rape is illegal. Everybody knows that. We used to hang people for it. It has never been in fashion, to my knowledge. Until now.
 Is the O "playing at being President?" Gratuitously cruel but cute-as-heck photo of the O is h/t NE Repub.
Sarkozy: The O incredibly naive and egotistical.
The O wants the US to surrender sovereignty - but to whom?
These are supposed to be savvy guys. Don't they realize that they are being used as window dressing?
More from the Frenchies: How French women stay thin. h/t, Tiger.
Massive ACORN vote fraud in NY. Related: The Politico gets played by ACORN
It wasn't rape. As neoneo notes, after all she was a 13-year old sexually active temptress at the time. The rules do not apply to Hollywood, apparently. Sodom and Gomorrah over there. Vanderleun nails the story.
In praise of political anger. Gets your heart working too.
The FCC cannot tie its own shoes, but wants to dig into the internet. Arrogant jerks. Leave us the heck alone.
The enraged and hateful Left aims at critics' jugulars
The Are all men pigs? meme. We believe that, at heart, all men are not pigs, but dogs, invested with a powerful mating urge. However, most of us also believe in civilized, honorable, and honest behavior especially when sober or when not in the throes of uncontrollable biological urges and desire...
NYC celebrates 60 years of Chicom rule. Perhaps New Yorkers might enjoy the same thing?
 That's King Buck on the 1959 Federal Duck Stamp. A great champion, and the prize of avid sportsman John Olin's Nilo Kennels.
In 1931 the Olin chemical and ammo company bought the bankrupt Winchester Repeating Arms company, and still owns the trademark for the firearms and makes the ammo.
The story of Winchester is the sad story of manufacturing and unions in the Northeast. From the Wiki:
By the 60's the cost of skilled labor was making it increasingly difficult profitably to produce Winchester's classic designs, incorporating as they did considerable hand-work. In particular, Winchester's flagship Model 12 pump shotgun and Model 70 bolt-action rifle with their machined forgings could no longer compete in price with Remington's cast-and-stamped 870 and 721. Accordingly S. K. Janson formed a new Winchester design group to advance the use of "modern" engineering design methods and manufacturing principles in gun design. The result was a new line of guns which replaced most of the older products in 1963-64. Unfortunately the reaction of the shooting press and public was overwhelmingly negative: the popular verdict was that Winchester had sacrificed quality to the "cheapness experts,"[1] and market share continued to decline as Winchester was no longer considered to be a prestige brand. Gun collectors consider "post-64" Winchesters to be both less desirable and less valuable than their predecessors.
Labor costs continued to rise, and a prolonged and bitter strike in 1979-80 convinced Olin that firearms could no longer be produced profitably in New Haven. Therefore in December 1980 the plant was sold to its employees, incorporated as the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, together with a licence to make Winchester arms. Olin retained the Winchester ammunition business.
From 1981 until 2006, Winchester guns were made by the U.S. Repeating Arms Company. When U.S. Repeating Arms went bankrupt in 1989 it was acquired by a French holding company, then sold to an arms making cartel sponsored by the Belgian Herstal Group, which also owns gun makers Fabrique National (FN) and Browning.
On January 16, 2006 U.S. Repeating Arms announced it was closing the New Haven, Connecticut, plant where Winchester rifles and shotguns were produced for 140 years.[1] Along with the closing of the plant, the Model 94 rifle (the descendant of the original Winchester rifle), Model 70 rifle and Model 1300 shotgun would be discontinued.
On August 15, 2006, Olin Corporation, owner of the Winchester trademarks, announced that it had entered into a new license agreement with Browning to make Winchester brand rifles and shotguns, though not at the closed Winchester plant in New Haven. Browning, based in Morgan, Utah, and the former licensee, U.S. Repeating Arms Company, are both subsidiaries of FN Herstal. In 2008 FN Herstal announced that it would produce Model 70 rifles at its plant in Columbia, SC.
It's interesting to read the histories of companies. Here's the history of the Olin Corp, which still makes Winchester ammo. I had the pleasure of meeting some good folks from the company recently.
There is no doubt that humans tend to, or prefer to, think in metaphors. Much of it is laziness, I think, and some of it is how our brains try to work efficiently. We have posted on this subject in the past.
We use metaphors to make the unseen and unseeable feel real, so we can handle it and talk about it. However, metaphors can just as easily be deceptive and misleading as they can be illuminating: it depends on the integrity and intent of the creator of the metaphor.
Psychologists try to take on metaphor - with, of course, the tools of their own metaphors. You end up with towers constructed of layers of metaphors. These are often termed "theories."
Why the O bombed on health care. WSJ. No, the public isn't stupid.
NY Post - Reform horrors: The O's total disconnect
Via Wilkinson:
I actually think we are going to get a reform that is both worse than the status quo and worse than a pure single payer system.
Maybe they want to break it, so they can come in and "fix it" later. That is termed "tactics."
Praying to Obama. Good grief. That is sick.
Ace on why it matters:
...it's why defeating health care in general and a government option in particular is so important. Once people turn their very lives over to the beneficence of government, it's game over.
Right. It makes us all slavish dependents on the government plantation.
Insty:
JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: “Liberals are screaming over public option failure even tho WH says plan is no biggie. Someone has their story wrong.”
If anybody thinks Congress and the O know what the heck they are doing, please make your case.
Tuesday, September 29. 2009
Just listening to the radio on the way home I heard Hugh Hewitt suggest what he called the "game-set-match" question to Hollywoodites supporting Roman Polanski not being tried: "Should someone drugging and raping your 13-year old daughter be prosecuted?" (I'd add sister or mother, as all in Hollywood must have at least one of the above.)
The shortest Hollywood film ever would be a unanimous "yes" from all. However, it may be too much to assume that none would answer "no." It is Hollyweird, after all.
No surprise, it may not be the shortest Hollywood movie ever. Look at some of the prominent Hollywood names signing the petition for Polanski's immediate release. Here's a more complete list.
Does anybody take Frank Rich seriously?
I never did ,even when he did the drama reviews.
Our pal and occasional contributor (Aliyah, Indian Health Service, etc) emails me this iPhone photo from Big Sur today on his way to lunch and a shrink conference:
Not that 64 is old by any means, but the Medicare group is very upset about ObamaCare.
Rightly so. They have a very good deal right now - probably an impossibly good deal - and they are going to lose it to help pay for the younger people who don't want to buy medical insurance.
Once the dog gets a bone, don't try to take it away. Folks on Medicare love their almost-free lunch.
At Am Thinker, The Perils of a 'Policy' President.
In my view, the real problem isn't the politics - it's the hubris. Few people who enjoy creating big plans and schemes for other peoples' lives have ever even tried to run a candy shop. That's the problem.
Ann Althouse, a prominent law professor, teenager in the ‘60’s, dismisses Andy Williams as too “square” even back in the ‘60’s to be taken seriously now, when he says President Obama is “following Marxist theory.”
I tested Williams’ squareness on my sons, now 4 and 9, this morning by showing them a YouTube of Andy Williams singing the theme song from Exodus, “This Land Is Mine.” Both loved it. But, are they biased because we’re Jewish? No. Both’s favorite TV show when younger, after the usual run of kiddie shows, was reruns on PBS of Lawrence Welk’s show. They both loved the melodious and understandable lyrics along with the lively and friendly performances.
So, are my sons square? Or, does Ann Althouse’s comment reflect a deprived upbringing, lacking personal connection to the emotions and tastes of an earlier generation? I choose the latter but what is important about this minor brouhaha is what it reflects about us.
Ann Althouse is known for her scholarship on federalism and the Constitution, so she is concerned with past debates and their effect on and application to current events. In this, she may be cognizant of philosopher George Santayana’s famous comment about “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” but may have missed his other comment, “the equality of unequals is inequality” while arguing for equality of opportunity.
Most people are not scholars of the myriad origins, forms and history of Marxism or Socialism. These terms are usually short-hand for categorizing redistribution of results among unequals, from those who earned the results to those who haven’t. That’s a sticky argument, as others argue unless those who haven’t are provided means to opportunities then they are less likely to obtain results commensurate with their skills and efforts.
The problem lies in discerning the boundaries, and aside from legislative and court determinations each individual must choose. I say “must” because the extent to which government decides the boundaries is inescapable upon each individual.
Most liberals tend to come down on a more expansive view of redistribution. Hence the epithet of “Marxist” or “Socialist” from some of those more conservative.
Many investigators who have studied President Obama’s past associations, to the limited extent they have been discovered, document his closest formative influences and choices to be among those quite radical and even avowedly “socialist” or “Marxist.” The major media has essentially ignored this pattern, or restrained coverage when they no longer could.
Does this matter?
To me, not as much as some of the investigators among my friends. I tend to be something of a behaviorist, believing that what one sees now is most important, and recognize all's ability to change. Others whom are friends are less concerned with the observable and the now. As one I respect says, “My hope is that he will get real very soon on lots of fronts as he experiences the push back and the immovable objects….Personally, I will give it more time to see how his presidency develops.”
Fair enough. And, while recognizing the observable and the now, incomplete when one considers the actual actions of President Obama that irremediably affect our and other nations’ inhabitants futures.
It’s unnecessary to be sucked into semantics or history. Only open eyes are necessary. That’s why this seemingly minor brouhaha is receiving such play among commenters. Some see Andy Williams' comment as an eye-opener and some see it as "square," but once again the real issue is missed. What will be history is now being shaped, and cannot be avoided by retreat to the past or hope for the future, nor need analogies be made. The observable and now are real and tangible enough.
 With ObamaCare in a Hole, Will the White House Stop Digging?
The real obesity problem is with the government
The hockey stick is dead. It was a fraud
Fiendish plot to create government daycare
Insty:
CANADIANS PUSH FOR PRIVATE OPTION: “Whereas U.S. healthcare is predominantly a private system paid for by private insurers, things in Canada tend toward the other end of the spectrum: A universal, government-funded health system is only beginning to flirt with private-sector medicine.” (Via American Power).
Will Small Businesses Stop Offering Health Insurance If Reform Passes? I think that's their plan
Coyote: But’s Its My Hard Work Paying Your Unemployment
Seems quite clear now that the O did not write his books
Dr. Government by Sen. John Kyl
Euroland should just give up on Socialism and try real Communism. It works just great.
Related: Are we witnessing the collape of Liberalism? at Am Thinker. How's that for whiplash?
Now is the time to buy your place in Spain. Or anywhere in the Balearic Islands. The Socialists have made a mess of their economy, so prices are reasonable. A pal recently bought a villa on the north coast of Majorca.
We loved this restaurant and tapas bistro (Las Olas) in Palma, Majorca. I ordered the gazpacho. It was beet - the gazpacho del dia. Remolacha. Wonderful, refreshing stuff for a hot day. I also tasted all of Mrs. BD's assortment of tapas, and we easily persuaded some wandering Brits to come into the place after I tasted the gazpacho and uttered an audible Wow.
I loved Palma. Lotsa photos below -
Continue reading "My summer vacation: I like Palma"
Monday, September 28. 2009
 The new museum in Athens. Sounds good.
Bring it on! Coldest winter. But I was sorta hoping for some global warming by now. They promised!
From Surber:
Wild turkeys attack a little boy in New Jersey. Why do you think they call them wild animals, New Jersey? I say an ax, an oven, some cranberries — bada-bing, bada-boom — Happy Thanksgiving.
The video.
We like John Kasich. Wonderful fellow.
What?
The admission of foreign students is something policymakers haven't focused on sufficiently. Such visas should only be granted for graduate schools and four-year colleges — no high schools, community colleges, or technical schools, like the Golf Academy of America, the California School of Dog Grooming, or John Paul's Hair, Nails & Skin Care Institute, all of which are on the list of approved schools to admit foreign students.
No flight schools?
I cannot believe that Radical Chic is still cool in California. It's so 70s.
Give us back our bullets. I have mine.
Whatever you say, Sen Kerry, but to me it's just a new tax:
"I don't know what 'cap and trade' means. I don't think the average American does," Kerry said. "This is not a cap-and-trade bill, it's a pollution reduction bill" (E&E Daily, Sept. 25).
Baloney.
A Liz Cheney update. Like her a lot. Rising star?
A day of repentenance and atonement, much like Lent for Christians like me. All are serious times, in which to take life very seriously - dead seriously - as this precious and brief gift of life deserves to be taken for at least some days of the year before we revert to our normal ways and habits.
We are all just animated dust, with God's spark. It's easy for me to forget that during daily life, when everything seems so important.
 It's been interesting to me to see how many searches land on our post from last year: The mice, rats, voles, shrews and lemmings of New England.
It's gratifying to be useful to curious people.
Photo: The good old Meadow Mouse, properly named the Meadow Vole, common across the nothern part of North America, and good wholesome food for numerous predators. A lil' critter to be welcomed, because his presence means you have healthy lands.
 Support hits new lows. Nobody wants this government mess. Just fix a few simple things, and all will be well.
Samuelson: It's just an exercise in ego gratification. No, it's worse than that: it's about power.
The cost? It's hidden in unfunded mandates for the states to pick up. They will just love that.
This loony, grandiose big government snafu is a train wreck waiting to happen, and Casey Jones is driving that train, high on cocaine. Better watch your speed.
 Works as well as an aerobic workout. Today's photo of one of our farm staff is for our male readers' health. We need to keep them alive.
We commit 6 felonies/day? Heck, I am sure I can do more.
Upping the predictions on climate in preparation for the conference. But not to worry - Bundanoon will solve it for us.
America's ridiculously large economy. India's national economy is equal to that of the NYC metropolitan area. Sheesh.
Oil bonanza in California (h/t, Miller)
George Will likes Marco Rubio
Neoneo: Are they laughing at us?
Stop allowing the Left to set the rules
Fineman: The limits of charisma. Somehow the charisma never really affected me.
Via Insty:
AND DON’T LET US CATCH YOU BEING NEIGHBORLY AGAIN: State bureaucrats threaten to fine, jail a Michigan woman for watching her neighbors’ kids. If people are neighborly, they need the state less. This cannot be permitted.
UPDATE: A reader emails: “‘If people are neighborly, they need the state less.’ You have unwittingly provided every ’social-service’ bureaucracy with a motivational slogan to be posted prominently in parts of the building where the public is not allowed.” I don’t think it’s anything they haven’t figured out already. . . .
The Dunkin' I found in a square in the medieval sector of Palma, Majorca. More Majorca photos tomorrow -
Sunday, September 27. 2009
At American Scholar. Well done, Prof Chase.
An evening departure from Monte Carlo harbor, headed to Barcelona:
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