She Flies With Her Own Wings

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

2009-11-23T07:50:00.004-05:00

So I was talking with a treehugger hippie friend of mine over beers during the football game yesterday. I do have friends like that, though I know they are clueless. But I usually can convince them to see the light and change their minds. This is how our conversation went.

Treehugger hippie: What if Newton's personal communications had been stolen and held up to the same scrutiny as the Hadley CRU climate scientists? Would we then not have learned gravity theory and possibly missed out on the Enlightenment entirely?

So I sez: Look, the worst that would have happened in that case would have been that we didn't know why the apple hit us upside our heads. With climate change legislation, we're facing trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars in costs, millions of jobs lost, and people shooting themselves in the head. That's why we need to have absolute certainty about the climate models. No questions should remain, all bloggers must be entirely satisfied that catastrophic warming will lead to impending doom.

Treehugger hippie: So the economic models used to forecast economic doom and gloom...aren't they also subject to interpretation and to bias? Are we sure that they 100% correct?

Me: Of course they are. Plus, there's consensus amongst economists. Not a single one of them disagrees. I'm sure that if you were to hack their e-mails, they'd be all like:

--Are you absolutely certain we should publish this study at this time, or should we run another analysis before frightening the public? You do know how important our work is. Has the model been tested under all sorts of different consumption patterns?
--Why yes. This model will stand up to anyone's scrutiny. I have already sent the code to skeptical, AGW-leaning economists for pre-publication review and critique.

Treehugger hippie: Well OK, but just to be safe, couldn't we simply begin by reducing our own per capita emissions down to maybe the level of the Europeans. They seem to be living a fine life.

Me: The Yurpins? The reason their carbon emissions are lower than ours is because they are ruled by reptilian overlords of mankind who force them into a sad life of socialism.

Treehugger hippie: Reptilian overlords?

Me: Yeah, I was told to slip that in somewhere. But you know what I mean. Modern environmentalism can be traced directly back to Hitler, Stalin, Goebbels and Carlos the Jackal. They all wanted to reduce carbon emissions, and look what happened to them! Besides, if you want to see more babes in bikinis, then you should be all for global warming!

Treehugger hippie: I don't care about babes in bikinis.

Me: Oh, yeah.

Treehugger hippie: So if the economic models used to forecast the effects of global warming legislation are always correct, and the climate models are often incorrect, how come when we allowed a large increase in carbon emissions these past 10 years we didn't see the economy boom? Did the models predict the housing bubble? Did anyone listen to those who came up with forecasts predicting the housing bubble?

Me: Of course there were people predicting that, but those were also the same people who said we should be listening to the AGW modelers, and since we know those models are crap, we also knew that the predictions of a housing bubble must be wrong. Something about sustainability and other such crap.

Treehugger hippie: Oh, OK.

Me: Glad I could set you straight on all this malarkey.

Like Paul Joseph, without the smile.

2009-11-22T13:52:00.007-05:00

The Wall Street Journal provides further background on Climategate:

The tension between those two camps is apparent in the emails. More recent messages showed climate scientists were increasingly concerned about blog postings and articles on leading skeptical Web sites. Much of the internal discussion over scientific papers centered on how to pre-empt attacks from prominent skeptics, for example.

The horrifying revelations about scientific abuses over the last few days have brought us numerous challenges, but also given us an opportunity to reflect on our mission and refocus our goals. Some of our inspiration might come from fellow bloggers. For instance, Mark Steyn at National Review's Corner blogs:

"Climate change" and "health care" are different ends of the same stick: They're both all-purpose pretexts for regulating every aspect of your life.

Yikes! Blogger William A. Jacobson of Legal Insurrection alerts us to the danger of scientists:

The e-mails also demonstrate what we all have known to be true -- that left-wing academics hate people who disagree with them, and are willing to engage in de facto boycotts and intimidation in order to silence opposing opinions. [...]

Let's get it right, or our children will be swimming -- not in water -- but in economic ruin resulting from failed policies based on politicized science propagated by people with hidden agendas who stand to make fortunes off of our misery.

Finally, Wonker, aka TerryP at HazZzMat relates this to all of academia:

A certain amount of this ongoing snit is but one example of the casual, reprehensible kind of skulduggery that's an everyday fact of life in academia where tenured-for-life professors go through adulthood acting like spoiled brat

We're at war with a propaganda machine conspiring to take over the world. Luckily, there are tools to fight for our freedom. For instance, the cover of this new book from Australia puts exactly what we're up against into an easily comprehensible cartoon:

The captain must not leave his sinking ship.

Climategate reveals additional e-mails

2009-11-21T10:03:00.005-05:00

You think the revelations of climate fraud are bad? Wait till you see what we've uncovered in their spam filter:

Subject: East Anglican models with mad data skillz

You can't account for her lack of warming? Are you having trouble hiding your decline? Your observing system is not inadequate. Trick her into manipulating your hockey stick tonight!

Order your hemispheric reconstruction kit today and so you won't have to contain your MWP any longer.

Emphasis added. This is the biggest science spam in history.

Friday's science.e-news commentary

2009-11-20T09:30:00.006-05:00

By now many of us will have heard the shocking revelation that an anonymous hacker has posted damning evidence showing climate sciencofascists used real data in their models, debated over whether to ask the US Congress to take climate science seriously, questioned their theories during unseasonably cold nights and disagreed over the review process and editorial decisions of certain journals. I know. I can't believe this either. Scientists should never debate things or question the validity of the assertions of those who question them. Just ask the Camel Doctor. But this conspiracy reaches much farther than even the most astute bloggers could imagine. Today it is with great shame that I must admit that I, too, was involved in the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind. As my former incarnation "Sir Oolius" I was tasked with the dreadful responsibility of having to lie to my readers. One of the e-mails in the hacked documents clearly shows this:

From: George Soros
To: Al Gore ,fat@xxxxx.xxx, t.boone.pickens@xxxx.xxx
Subject: Socialist plan to take over the World
Date: Mon., 16 Nov 2009 13:31:15 +0000
Cc: w.buffett@xxx.xx.xx

Dear Al and T.,

After all this time and money spent, we can finally say that our view is aired consistently by the MSM. We now own The Washington Post editorial board (except for Will, who still insists on publishing the truth about AGW), and at the New York Times we just added Friedman to our payroll; but Rich and Kristof have been doing fairly well for us there. In short, climatofascism can now enter its next stage. With the help of the liberal noise machine at MSNBC and the blogs, we can now delude the rest of the American public into taking "action." Romm, Revkin, Dave Roberts, Zimmer are all fighting hard to keep the message fresh. We're a little concerned with Oolius at the moment. He might be going rogue in which case we'll have to terminate his contract. Otherwise we're in good shape. Once this catches on, we'll be making trillions of dollars in so-called "alternative" energy. I know you are, T-Bone, but Al, are you fully invested in this yet? I know you've been busy with your book cover, but it's really time *now* to leverage the equity in your mansion. [...]

Folks. There you have it. This is all one big conspiracy in which scientists make things up and wealthy capitalists enrich themselves on heaps of government money while oil and coal companies struggle to survive on a 3% profit margin. And that is why I have decided to join the truth of the truest truths to shed light on these malicious tactics. I hope you will understand.

I gotta start 'splainin myself sometime

2009-11-19T09:00:00.006-05:00

You might have wondered what's happened to good ole' Sir Oolius these past few months. Well, I have to admit that after much navel-gazing, the contrarian in me won out and I feel compelled to join forces with the side of the truest truth of truer truths. Over the past 9 months, I have come to realize that I strongly believe that the free market is under attack by a vicious and heartless socialist conspiracy and that global warming is the issue with which they plan to force us into slavery. And death. Lots of death. I fear the death that is to be bestowed upon our freedom-loving nation. To all my previous readers: I WILL NOT apologize! You must join me and the mission of this mighty blog in resisting this effort on the part of our enemies by every means possible! Rise up and fight!

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, how better to get things going again here than with climate ~~denier~~ [dammit, things like this still slip out from time to time] policy experts quotes! Atrios pointed us to this particularly insightful quote over at Red State yesterday:

I was so delighted when she [Sarah Palin] catagorically rejected the global warming nonesense in an interview with Rush today. This is something that she was unable to do during the campaign because of McCain’s climate facisim views. This issue is one of the most important for me. Global warming facisim is the buggest threat to our liberty, prosperity, free markets, and way of life. Sarah is so far the only possible 2012 contender that holds this view. Don’t let Pawlenty’s 180 degree turnabout fool you.

Oooooh....Buggerin' Buggers!

Erick nailed it: McCain is a climate fascist. And if McClimatefascist had been elected, our right hand would already be raised high, chanting in unison: "Sieg Gaia!" Chris Horner gives some background:

[...] if warmist-friendly John McCain had been elected last November, we already would have adopted cap-and-trade, and would be facing a "successful" Copenhagen collapse.

And that's because Republican Presidents never change their position on the environment once their butts are firmly planted on the Oval Office chair, safe from the liberal MSM attacking them at every turn on the campaign trail. Moreover, McCain could have easily convinced congressional Republicans to build a filibuster-proof majority with DemocRats for cap-and-death-panel-tax legislation. We'd already be on our way to converting highways into bike lanes, downtown Detroit to a pedestrian zone, and shuttling urban hellhole criminals into the suburbs on SUPERTRAINS to implement the ACORN agenda of coercing your youngest daughter into crack-whoring. All because of climate alarmism.

But things are looking up for our side. We have "bagfulls of cash". And, this is The Year of the Skeptic, we are also currently planning on re-winning the Nobel Prize next year, but without the fat guy. And so I have great hopes for our common future together, and the 2010 elections. May God bless all of you.

hello?

2009-10-14T14:46:00.000-04:00

Someday soon I hope to find the time to blog again.

That was then...

2009-09-10T12:40:00.001-04:00

...after September 11, we can't afford a health care reform bill that will not increase the deficit.

The next Van Jones

2009-09-08T14:31:00.001-04:00

Pretty sure the wingnutosphere won't like these songs too much.

Just a miniscule portion...

2009-09-08T10:48:00.002-04:00

...of the barren, lifeless coastal plain.

But one reality in Arctic Alaska is that almost nothing can be buried, so a spreading mesh-work of pipelines and supporting structures is still required to get fuel to markets. Another reality is that, even with the concentrated drilling, the infrastructure for extracting and moving oil now fragments 1,000 square miles of tundra. [...]

As with a coral reef or a rain forest, structure is habitat, and on the treeless coastal plain the oil structures provide welcome cover, perches and nesting or denning sites for predators, particularly arctic foxes, ravens and gulls.

Make sure to check out the maps, showing the original proposed drilling area and the current patchwork of exploratory wells and pipelines.

Dear Republicans,

2009-09-05T09:43:00.001-04:00

Eff you!

Noble prize

2009-09-04T14:21:00.000-04:00

Grad student job application FAIL.

Why we need government-run healthcare

2009-09-04T11:42:00.001-04:00

Let them teach creation instead!

2009-09-04T07:50:00.002-04:00

Only conservatives can hear this...

Obama plans to speak directly to students Tuesday about the need to work hard and stay in school. His address will be shown live on the White House Web site and on C-SPAN at noon EDT, a time when classrooms across the country will be able to tune in.

...and think this:

"As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education — it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality," said Oklahoma state Sen. Steve Russell. "This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

I grant OK state Sen. Russell one thing: Hitler too did urge his people to work hard.

I'm pissed off...

2009-09-02T15:51:00.000-04:00

...that my floor has 2 urinals for 164 people.

These calculations suggest a few other hacks. Guys: if you enter a bathroom with an awkward number of vacant urinals in a row, rather than taking one of the end ones, you can take one a third of the way down the line. This will break the awkward row into two optimal rows, turning a worst-case scenario into a best-case one. On the other hand, say you want to create awkwardness. If the bathroom has an unawkward number of urinals, you can pick one a third of the way in, transforming an optimal row into two awkward rows.

The Gore Effect

2009-09-02T15:47:00.000-04:00

Uh, yeah, that's why they coined that phrase:

So, we now have a data-supported, political-scientific reason why those “Gore Effect” (different from the Al Gore’s Giant Fraggin’ Mansion Effect) stories hold people’s attention — aside from pure irony. It’s not just that it’s somewhat funny to see a blizzard hit Washington, D.C., the day Gore flies into town to talk about global warming; it’s that a significant amount of the public is actually forming its opinion (consciously or not) based on the weather day-to-day.

The Liberal Media

2009-09-02T12:17:00.000-04:00

"Green washing":

So, to recap, an environmental organization launches a massive public awareness media buy in support of US climate legislation and within 48 hours an bogus ad turns up on the internet that impinges the integrity of that organization which winds it's way from professional forums, through the right wing blogosphere to Fox news, reporting "the controversy", even though the organization itself denounced any involvement at all.

Summer's over.

2009-09-01T23:21:00.003-04:00

Get back to work. The health care..uhm..."debate"?...is overshadowing energy policy. Yes, that sucks, and we have to think about ways to work with that fact. But guess what, that's exactly why our best buddies are cheering Woo-Hoo!

Screw that. Years of private capital funded energy-efficiency R&D would go down the drain if we just give up. There has been a huge amount of money spent over the last few years by hugely successful publicly traded companies on energy efficiency, and that's not just one or two companies no one has heard of, these are big-name blue chip companies who have done their homework during the unpredicatbly crazy Bush years looking forward to a day when they might have to conserve a little. That knowledge is now just waiting to be used. But it will all go to waste if energy legislation doesn't pass the Senate. Yes, some sectors might not be able to adjust quickly and they should be helped finanacially in other ways. But the vast majority of companies are ready to go right now, and the only thing holding them back is waiting for the good-ole government dole. And they'll continue to wait because none of them wants to take the first step if they know that they can wait a few more months and then get rewarded for it.

Big Gub'mnt isn't imposing their will for something that's completely meaningless, either, if I have to remind anyone. Eh-hem, that AGW thing still kinda sucks. And thanks but no thanks, pointing planes at Manhattan is sick. We. Don't. Need. To. Go. There. Why? Because cap-and-trade is simply a way to allow American-made energy efficiency solutions to be tried in the broader marketplace. They'll ask rhetorically 'why those aren't being used right now if those solutions are so great?' It's all because the private sector is waiting for government direction on how we'll solve this. The companies know they'll have to act sooner or later anyway.

Shall we at least try to do this now while we as a country still can make these solutions work? Yes, we can.

Preaching to the choir

2009-09-01T19:42:00.005-04:00

I had no idea so many white Young Republicans attend Howard University.

Image taken by Dave Weigel.

The Dullest Blog in the World

2009-08-31T19:00:00.002-04:00

Probably has more readers than this. Maybe I can learn something from it.

A+++

2009-08-31T11:12:00.000-04:00

Excellent work:

Two New Zealand schoolgirls humbled one of the world's biggest food and drugs companies after their school science experiment found that their ready-to-drink Ribena contained almost no trace of vitamin C.

Students Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo tested the blackcurrant cordial against rival brands to test their hypothesis that cheaper brands were less healthy. Instead, their tests found that the Ribena contained a tiny amount of vitamin C, while another brand's orange juice drink contained almost four times more.

Cape Wind

2009-08-31T10:50:00.002-04:00

Newsbusters is probably right about one thing: it was tactless to run an editorial like this the day after his funeral. That's maybe the only time I'll write the words "Newsbusters is probably right."

But now that Obama has vacationed up here, he could weigh in on Cape Wind.

Science Journalism

2009-08-31T10:20:00.000-04:00

For those who've not seen it yet, Noz suggested this.

Obama's Eulogy to Teddy Kennedy

2009-08-29T15:11:00.001-04:00

The Wellstone memorial on steroids:

Pictures from Mission Hill

2009-08-29T13:23:00.004-04:00

My idea to take photos from an excellent vantage point unfortunately didn't materialize due to a tree...

Strangely, even though everyone else was waiting at the route of the motorcade, the crazies managed to figure out that Obama wasn't going to be on that motorcade, instead approaching the church from Huntington...

Someone actually tried to engage them in a shouting match. But Brigham Circle regulars know from the crazy anti-abortion protesters that stand here regularly, it's best to simply try avoiding them while crossing the street.

Every other place has these signs on them:

<
We wound up watching the funeral from a local pub. No eye was dry. Thank you Ted for everything.

The scene in Boston

2009-08-28T15:01:00.003-04:00

A good friend just sent me these. The first two are the scene at the motorcade close to the State House:

And this is an image of the presidential helicopter flying around Boston. We don't think Obama was in there yet: