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illconsidered | October 6, 2008This was Palin's response when asked about climate change in Thursday's vice-presidential debate:
I think the (rather blindingly) obvious point to any with the slightest sincere interest in this issue is that despite what she says the cause of the current climate change is completely central to the question of what to do about it. Real Climate makes this point whether you are wholly in the adaptation camp or wholly in the mitigation camp.
She mentions magical cycles as a possible explanation, one of the standard, easily debunkable lines. But as a young earth creationist, what cycles is she…
illconsidered | October 5, 2008[UPDATE: turns out this one was actually too funny to be real...oh well, I can't tell reality from satire since McCain put Palin on his ticket, his soulmate and all that...apologies and how embarassing and all that.]
If too funny to be real, or too real to be funny is what you find yourself wondering about this whole Palin for VP thing, then you have got to read this. It is Todd Palin live blogging the debate (or as much as he could watch before being so bored he starts channel surfing!) and it includes gems like this:
9:30 - OK, got a little lost there. I think that energy independence is…
illconsidered | September 18, 2008Anthony Watt's blog seems to be a rather high profile climate sceptic site that usually seems to at least try to have substantive content, but I can't see watt's so interesting about this article from The Province, a BC, Canadian newspaper.
The article starts off with this remarkable statement:
As evidence to the contrary started rolling in and one prominent scientist after another abandoned ship, the global warming brigade lost much of its sizzle in the past year.
I think I can guess what he thinks is "evidence to the contrary", probably the supposed huge temeprature drop this year, the […
illconsidered | September 10, 2008For those of you who read this blog and don't read Pharyngula, (there must be a few!), I found this video to be too compelling to stop wathcing, and very powerful and moving in its message.
There really is a lot at stake in the coming election, but I have less and less hope as each week goes by.
illconsidered | September 7, 2008Eli Rabett reports that Brian Schmidt reports that Inel reports a fake climate conference phishing scam.
Just thought I should report that!
How much money could a scammer get from that!? Hardly the same universal appeal as your typical "Nigerian banker wants to share $35 million with you" scam.
Oh well, just don't sign up.
illconsidered | September 3, 2008I was just kidding about that Sarah Palin-osmosis-experience crack...but apparently Frank Gaffney at TownHall.com takes it all seriously!
As that state's governor, Sarah Palin would know more by osmosis - if nothing else - about the necessity for U.S. anti-missile systems than either Messrs. Obama or Biden.
(h/t to Science Avenger from the comments]
illconsidered | September 3, 2008Just as an addendum to this post, I wanted to point out that Real Climate has a discussion of the paper in question[PDF].
The authors include not only Mike Mann, but also Bradley and Hughes, so we have the whole infamous MBH cabal in one place again! Let the mud-slinging begin!
But some useful stuff from RC's post includes noting the substantial increase in the number of proxy data sources:
1209 back to 1800; 460 back to 1600; 59 back to 1000 AD; 36 back to 500 AD and 19 back to 1 BC (all data and code is available here). This is compared with 400 or so in MBH99, of which only 14 went back…
illconsidered | August 22, 2008Roger Pielke Jr has another post promoting the whole Hockey Stick schtick. My "sceptic guide" entry on that is still here, and I don't have much more to say about it still to this day.
But as for the meta discussion...
I think it is self-serving and a real disservice to humanity for Roger to still be fanning the flames on this issue, but it certainly seems he has found the audience and following he must have been seeking if one is to judge be the plethora of "me too" comments he has received. I don't have much more to observe than that, but Michael Tobis has a more lengthy and well thought…
illconsidered | August 20, 2008Check out a cool post (bad pun not intended...unless you thought it was good) on the physics of making ice cream from Green Gabbro!
illconsidered | August 20, 2008I poke into Jennifer Marohasy's blog from time to time, though I am no longer a regular commenter. I gave that up a couple of years ago but still take any special cases as opportunities to chime in again. She's one of those standard types of sceptics, the "scientist" from another discipline just "honestly" investigating an important issue about which she has no preconceptions.
Well, a recent post prompted Deltoid's Tim Lambert to shake his head in consternation as Jennifer gives a soapbox to yet another crackpot pseudo-science post where we are told that the concept of radiative equilibrium…
illconsidered | August 7, 2008Fed up of trying to decide who to believe in the endless blog wars over climate science? Well, don't despair and don't rely on third parties you may know little about, instead educate yourself!
That link is to a very handy page over at Things Break that lists some great resources for learning the science behind the political debate of anthropogenic climate change.
Books, open courses, audio-visuals, great internet resources, its all there, check it out.
illconsidered | August 7, 2008So, Pielke Jr's blog, Prometheus has a new look. Congratulations!
But just a minute...they have also changed the URL's of all the past postings, thereby breaking the links to to all things Roger in the climate debate blogosphere. And Roger at best is unconcerned, but most likely prefers it that way, judging from his answer to my question as to whether it will remain so. "Gee, I don't know."
Hmm. Why would they do that?
All the internal links have been updated, so his favorite reference sources (himself) can still be clicked, but all of the blog responses to his writings now have broken…
illconsidered | August 5, 2008Eli Rabbet has a great summary of the recent Monckton-APS kafuffle. As this is sure to echo "longly and loudly" in the denier's circle I will add an article tomorrow into the How to talk to a climate sceptic guide.
--ahem-- Eli, care to update your blogroll with my "new" URL? Pretty please? I can't believe I just noticed now....
illconsidered | August 5, 2008Thanks to a find by In It For the Gold, I will now be adding a new blog called "The Way Things Break" to my Google Reader feeds.
I don't know anything about the author, but he has crafted an amazingly thorough and well sourced shredding of a recent Bjorn Lomborg op-ed, spouting more shrill paranoia about "inquisitions" and stifling of free speech.
If you don't subsribe to the blog, I highly recommend reading at least that one article, it alone is worth the price of admission.
illconsidered | August 4, 2008Roger comes down on Junkscience for a refreshing change, usually prefering to disguise himself and mingle with the sceptics. Of course, if you read him carefully, he is not one, he just plays one on "the internets". It is all about personal positioning in a very public debate.
Roger posts about Steve Milloy, who has written a letter to the U.S. government's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) trying to stop certain corporations from "making potentially false and misleading statements pertaining to global warming and other environmental issues".
Of course, the statements he calls out…
illconsidered | August 1, 2008Via Prometheus I read this article from the AFP that describes some new findings about land mass in the river delta that is Bandladesh. Apparently it is growing and has been for the last 32 years at about 20 km^2/year.
Roger points out, no doubt correctly, that the climate septics will make great hay with this, as supposedly another IPCC prediction turns sour.
But will they be correct?
Regardless of the extent of the Bangladeshi delta, obviously the only thing that will determine if it is submerged or not in future sea level rise scenarios will be its altitude. 640 square km of new land is…
illconsidered | August 1, 2008Posted just because I love this (besides, it's Friday, let's go dancing!)
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.