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Tuesday, September 10. 2013AGW Update: the 'secret inclusion' methodAs the earth continues its petty refusal to cooperate with the warmists, we've been having loads of fun watching them get more and more desperate. We've recently had terrorism, violence, war, $80 trillion in damage and the North Pole turning into a picturesque lake officially linked with AGW, and then I noted in my post last Sunday how they're also elevating the scare tactics. Today's clever ruse is brought to you by the good folks at RealClearPolitics, and a nice — if not downright informative — piece it is. It's always good when some science guy does his best to dispel misinformation. Genuine Controversies in Science That last one, however, only gets ½ point because of a personal story. My mom fell off a horse when she was 9 and suffered a small neck pain for something like 55 years. She tried everything, from neurologists to acupressure, as well as a couple of chiropractors. One day a friend mentioned some old semi-retired guy who had performed some chiropractic miracle on a friend of hers. My mom went to see him. After the second visit, she was cured forever. And no, Virginia, the Hadron Collider won't cause a black hole to gobble up the earth. And, I'm sorry to say, cold fusion is pure bunk. Nuclear power, however, is quite safe. Finally, yes, GMOs, or genetically-modified organisms (food in this case), are perfectly healthy. Oops, wait, I forgot one. It was slipped into the #9 slot and I accidentally clicked past it. Climate Change Is Largely Manmade As it clearly states:
Uh, hold on a sec, will ya? Something about that is ringing a bell. (thinking) Oh, right, that "past few decades" part. The past few decades is how long it's been since it has warmed up. I remember now. But an excellent try, nonetheless, RealClearPolitics, and a big gold star for the 8½ items you did get right. As I said, it's always admirable when someone steps up to the plate and tackles the tough ones. Even if it is only a fake-out to couch the real message.
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Funny! I saw that article a few days ago and did the same thing, cringe every time I hit the 'Next' button, waiting for you-know-what. And he did not disappoint!
It's always cute to see science fetishists like you guys talk about all the important things in science.
Beats actually having to learn it I suppose. With all due respect Doc, they haven't been warmists for quiet awhile. Some time ago, the warmists morphed into changeists, and began preaching disaster via climate change. More recently, the changeists have morphed into weather extreme alarmists, making them extremists, I suppose.
Yeah, the "extreme weather" charge seems to be the push since US temps have generally been cooler.
Some are speculating that after that it will be water shortage concerns. I found this compelling b/c I've seen those seeds being sown. So the most legitimate link (i.e., not a right-wing blog quoting websites containing industry-funded "studies") is
the Telegraph (UK) which, like the rest of them, quotes TWO scientists: Judith Curry and the guy from Wisconsin saying we're gonna enter a cooling period. What about the half a bazillion (a lot) other scientists that say the Arctic is melting? The ice sheet increases for a few months and..boom..a complete reversal of the last several decades is the new trend? Is this recent Wikipedia article wrong? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_the_Arctic They must be part of the plot. Maybe we could all get several kegs of rum and camp out at the base of (what's left of) every known glacier and wait for the avalanche of ice sure to come to welcome in the New Ice Age with a slurry bang. I mean, since we're entering a "cooling period" and all. Actually, I don't know why I'm trying to convince you Yankees that (although you're good guys and obviously sincere) you're wrong as hell. I guess anyone could be fooled by the "real agendas" of these nefarious liberal scientists out there making up stats and fooling us with their conspiracies, etc. I guess it's because the rest of your posts are so... cool . Time is gonna prove one camp or the other right so party on, America. Just don't do it outside in the summertime unless you're wearing a speedo. "I mean, since we're entering a "cooling period" and all."
Pardon me, but are you in the right thread? This is the "hasn't gotten warmer or cooler in almost 20 years" thread. Perhaps the one you're looking for is down the hall? But thanks for dropping by, just the same. Possibly. What people like rock and Z never understand is that the second people read "You Yankees...", they think "Who the fuck is this guy?" and skip to the next comment. Nobody gives a rat's ass what them furriners think.
Got me there, Doc. And the NOAA saying that the earth has
been growing hotter for the last 50 years...how can that many people fudge data? OK. Whatever. Sigh. @ rock - notice that it is thee who are speculating on the agendas: industry-funded and all that. The agendas of the changeists are varied and sometimes subtle. When you have eyes, you will see. But even if they had no hidden poor motives, it would not change the facts that their evidence is insufficient.
Second, you attempted to be cute with your "bazillions," but you actually bring evidence against yourself quite effectively with it. A bazillion is not an actual number, but an impression - and that is what AGW depends on, the impressionthat all the smart people are in their camp, with only a few loons on the outside. The reality is different. There is a continuum of belief among the actual scientists of how much change/warming/catastrophe is occurring. It is the the semi-educated, who sense the scientific fashion and fall for infographics rather than doing any actual hard thinking who are the "bazillions" of believers. You have been sold a bill of goods, and you show no evidence of being able to even question that there is a remote possibility you are mistaken. Your accusation falls precisely back upon yourself. There are more than a couple of cranks questioning the idea that we face imminent catastrophe. There are many who are suspicious, each for different reasons and not always agreeing with each other. And not funded by "industry." "Second, you attempted to be cute with your "bazillions," but you actually bring evidence against yourself quite effectively with it. A bazillion is not an actual number, but an impression"
Damn! It's not an actual number??? Isn't Jay-Z worth that much? I guess that's the price I have to pay for being semi-educated. A razor-sharp rebuttal/dissection Mr. AVI. I think you deserve a promotion, no reason for you to be an assistant any more! oh, but the ice sheet getting bigger is "just an insignificant statistical blip in the record downward trend caused be manmade global warming".
And yes, that's the "argument" they use. Of course they deny that using winter data for one year, then claiming the icecaps are melting by comparing the lower ice coverage of next summer with that is in any way cooking the books (which is exactly what they've been doing for years, but this year even that couldn't save them). As I understand it, the ice sheet is melting like crazy, so it's getting thinner, which is why it's spreading, which is why it's "bigger". Something like that. I can only read a few paragraphs on the "science" sites before my vision starts going blurry, but that was the gist on one of them the other day.
I'm waiting for Dr. Paul Ehrlich to tell me what is going to happen and then I know the opposite will happen. In the 1970s he predicted we were all going to die from global cooling which would cause massive crop failures and millions would die from famines in the 1980s.
Ah, yes, The Ehrlich Method, the correlation of The Gore Effect. If facts and figures are the basis of science, those two lead the field in accuracy.
Alternative Medicines are generally bunk...
It's an interesting concept, but I'm not convinced. I used a chiropractor for my back, until my insurance dropped coverage for chiro. It worked great. So did acupuncture. My problems are severe enough that a visit, or series of, would not provide complete pain removal forever. That's a given. But mainstream doctors couldn't do anything for me. I knew losing weight would help (it did, when I finally decided to do it), but it's not complete help, either. Alternatives DID, though. My father, a doctor, used to be a skeptic. Today, his mantra is "whatever works for you, works." His feeling is even if it's a placebo effect, it's an effect. However, alternatives that make outrageous claims generally ARE bunk. I know people who insist on 'natural' medicines. As my father points out, "where do you think the 'processed' medicines come from?" You can have man-made medicine without the original, natural, version. But that doesn't make the natural version better. Aspirin, if I remember my chemistry, was derived from willow bark. I'll take aspirin, thank you. We had cold fusion running in a potato clock for a few minutes.
"Real" medicine can be filled with idiots too. Like the moron neurologist who diagnosed me with MS in the mid-80's until the insurance company insisted on a spinal fluid test which definitively proved that I didn't have MS, but a recurring ear infection and general body infection (which flares on occasion - I blame Agent Orange) which was cleared up with a week of infused antibiotics.
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