ReasicReasicA weblog with words and pictures and the occasional video Articles
IPCC Censorship?
2007-04-12 16:27:00 One argument I often hear from skeptics is that the IPCC is not to be trusted because it’s too political and it censors critics. Well, we now have information that should shut the door on that argument. According to Kevin Grandia at Desmogblog.com, it’s true that the IPCC is political, but its effect is the ... More About: Censorship , Ship
Response to Lubos Motl
2007-04-10 17:29:00 A skeptic named Lubos Motl has challenged my post on the 800-year lag between temperature and CO2. In the process, Lubos has turned out to be a poster child for skepticism gone awry. Don’t get me wrong. It is good to be skeptical. However, it can be taken too far. In this case, Lubos has ... More About: Response
A Brief History of IPCC Reports
2007-04-09 14:06:00 I figured with release of the latest SPM on Friday, it might be worthwhile to take a quick look at how we got here. Let?s start with the purpose of the IPCC: Human activities now occur on a scale that is starting to interfere with natural systems such as the global climate. Because climate change is ... More About: History , Story , Report , Port , Stor
IPCC Report Summary #2 Released!
2007-04-06 17:03:00 The new IPCC SPM has officially been released. You can access it here. I plan to update this post with more information after I’ve been able to look it over. More About: Report , Port , Mary , Released , Release
Solar Irradiance Quantified
2007-04-06 15:37:00 In recent days, I’ve had several discussions with skeptics about the Sun’s role in our current warming trend. Many times these skeptics like to bring up solar activity’s effect on our climate and how it is supposedly severely underestimated by the IPCC and the majority of scientists. Now, this discussion could go down several ... More About: Solar , Dian , Anti , Adia
Supreme Court: EPA Can Regulate CO2
2007-04-05 19:03:00 As many of you already know by now, the Supreme court recently ruled that the EPA does have the authority to regulate CO2 emissions: In a 5-4 decision, the court said the Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from cars. […]The ... More About: Supreme Court , Late , Court
IPCC Summary #2 due Friday
2007-04-04 21:32:00 Yep, this Frida y , on April 6th, the IPCC will release the Summary for Policy Makers of the second volume of its Fourth Assessment Report, written by Working Group 2, titled “Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability”. According to the IPCC, this next volume will provide “a comprehensive analysis of how climate change is affecting natural and ... More About: Mary
?Swindle? Correspondence
2007-04-03 15:06:00 I just received a heads up from Craig at Celsias.com about correspondence between George Monbiot and Hamish Mykura, Head of History, Science, and Religion at Channel 4 over the controversial documentary, “The Great Global Warming Swindle ”. In his first letter, Monbiot expresses “regret” about Mykura’s “attempt on the Today programme on Wednesday to use [Monbiot’s] ... More About: Wind , Pond , Correspondence , Responde
New Climate Discovery!
2007-04-02 15:24:00 Apparently, with all of the focus on carbon dioxide as the dominant radiative forcing, climate scientists have completely missed an even greater factor: sheep. Not just any sheep, though - New Zealand sheep. In a very interesting satirical post, raypierre at RealClimate .org explains the “Sheep Albedo Feedback”: The hypothesis begins with the simple observation that ... More About: Discovery , Cover , Mate , Lima
Martian Warming Revisited
2007-03-29 19:36:00 In an earlier post, I’ve discussed the issue of Mars warming, and what it means for Earth’s global warming. As I said before: This is usually mentioned in an effort to claim that solar activity is the dominant factor in causing our planet to warm, since it?s also causing Mars to warm. Recently, I happened upon ... More About: Site , Mart , War , Visi , Visit
How Immediate Is the Global Warming Threat?
2007-03-27 23:31:00 One concern that many global warming skeptics seem to have is the “dramatic” and “alarmist” presentations on the subject, like Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”. I guess I can understand the cause for concern, because as any reasonable anthropogenic global warming proponent will tell you, global warming is not going to result in ... More About: Global Warming , Media , War , Global , Mediate
Does a Global Temperature Exist?
2007-03-26 16:47:00 An article that was published recently in the Journal of Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics asks this very question. This paper is the work of an economist (Ross McKitrick), a physicist (Bjarne Andresen), and a mathematician (Christopher Essex), who have come to the conclusion that it does not: Physical, mathematical and observational grounds are employed to show that there ... More About: Temperature , Global , Tempe , Ratu , Exist
Can a Soldier?s Wife Not ?Support the Troops??
2007-03-23 16:12:00 I just read an amazing post, written by Sis B at hooahwife.com. Sis B is the wife of a soldier, and in her post, she eloquently exposes the stupidity behind the partisan “you don’t support the troops” argument that is continually leveled at those who dare to question the war effort or the actions of ... More About: Wife , Port , Support , Soldi , Troops
Skeptical Conspiracy Theories Answered
2007-03-23 15:11:00 Here at Reasic, I like to try to answer any and all objections, no matter how nonsensical. Today, I was provided with an example of such an argument. A visitor named “R Boutiere” left a long, one paragraph comment that was littered with unsupported data, unverified assertions, logical fallacies (mainly straw man arguments), and general ... More About: Piracy , Answer , Skeptic , Conspiracy , Conspiracy Theories
Another Friendly Global Warming Debate
2007-03-22 16:09:00 I have been involved in a discussion with Grit from GritandBrit.com about my long post on the Swindle documentary. I’ve decided to bring that into the open here, so that if there are any further comments or suggestions on either side, those could be expressed. First, you’ll want to get up to speed. ... More About: Global Warming , Other , Debate , War , Global
Global Warming Myths Exposed - Part Three
2007-03-20 16:43:00 A skeptic that I’ve regularly debated with, named Mick, recently asked a question that I’ve decided to use as my next edition of “Global War ming Myths Expo sed”. His question was as follows: What percentage of CO2 is in the total atmosphere? Next, what percentage of all the CO2 is produced by man? It’s a very short and ...
Sir John Houghton Responds to Swindle
2007-03-19 14:08:00 There are several good responses to the Great Global Warming Swindle out now. Hopefully, it is starting to reach the public consciousness that the documentary was a sham. Yet another response has surfaced from a man with plenty of credibility on the subject. Sir John Houghton was Director General of the UK Meteorological Office and was also co-chair of IPCC Scientific Assessment working group 1988-2002. Surprisingly, Houghton’s response, while very critical of the film, did contain a few agreements: The IPCC was one of the main targets of the documentary. In response to the programme’s broadcast, Sir John Houghton (former co-chair IPCC Scientific Assessment working group 1988-2002) assessed some of its main assertions and conclusions. According to Houghton, three of these were true, seven were not true, and one was possibly true. He flatly contradicted two of the programme’s statements, that “The troposphere is warming less than the surface” and that “Volcanic erupti... More About: Wind , Pond
800-year CO2 Lag Explained
2007-03-15 21:36:00 I recently received what I thought was a very good question on the issue of the 800-year lag between the rise in CO2 and temperature during the warming period between ice ages. Seeing that this issue is used by many skeptics as proof that CO2 does not affect our climate, I thought I’d put ... More About: Plain , Year , Laine
Global Warming Scientists to Debate
2007-03-14 21:45:00 All of this public debate between lay persons, politicians, and we’re getting nowhere fast. What if the climate scientists themselves actually debated? Well, apparently, that’s going to happen tonight at the Asia Society and Museum in New York City: SPEAKERS FOR THE MOTION: Michael Crichton is a writer and filmmaker, best known as the author ofJurassicPark ... More About: Global Warming , Scientist , Debate , War , Global
Channel 4 Distances Itself From Documentary
2007-03-14 14:06:00 UK newpaper The Independent has conducted an investigation into the claims made and data used in Martin Durkin’s latest documentary. As they reported today, they’ve found that the charts and data used in the film were not entirely accurate: The Great Global Warming Swindle, was based on graphs that were distorted, mislabelled or just plain ... More About: Documentary , Men , Self , Document , Menta
Curveball Revealed!
2007-03-13 21:26:00 Remember “Curve ball”? He was the Iraqi defector that gave us such good information about the mobile biological labs and such that Saddam Hussein had. A little background: The CIA claimed that it did not have “direct access” to Curveball, and that the mysterious informant instead communicated to Germany’s intelligence service, which relayed the information to ... More About: Ball
Martin Durkin: Swindler Extraordinaire
2007-03-13 14:39:00 As I pointed out in a recent post on this subject, there is reason to be suspicious of Durkin’s work, because in the past, he has not been entirely truthful: The Independent Television Commission handed down one of the most damning verdicts it has ever reached: the programme makers ?distorted by selective editing? the views ... More About: Wind , Mart , Nair , Extra , Dina
Faux News Channel Shenanigans
2007-03-12 20:50:00 I just love Fox News . They provide so much material on such a regular basis. Now, Jurassicpork over at Pottersville has displayed a rather impressive collection of images, highlighting Fox News’ fair and balanced coverage over the years. My favorite: Larry Johnson at No Quarter also provides his personal insights on the situation, since he was ... More About: Channel , Nani , Anne , Chan
The Great Global Warming Swindle Questions Answered
2007-03-10 17:50:01 I had two good responses to my last post on the recent documentary that aired on Channel 4 in the UK. “Eric” and “Jon Confused” asked some very good questions, which supplied me with plenty of work in looking for the answers. I figured that this response would be fairly long, so I decided to just go ahead and start a new post. I’ve done my best here to provide as many links and quotes from various sources as I could, but if I happened to miss something, feel free to let me know. Above all, I want each answer to be clear and concise, so that there is no confusion. 1. Antarctic ice cores showing lag between warming and rise in CO2 concentrations: Antarctic ice core samples show that the rise in carbon dioxide levels lags behind temperature rise by 800 years, therefore cannot be the cause of it. [Answer - This is based on correct info, but presented in a misleading way: Not quite as true as they said, but basically correct; however they misinterpret it... More About: Global Warming , Question , Questions , Wind
Martian Warming
2007-03-10 17:50:01 A question was recently posed to me by a skeptic named Mick that involved a bit of research, so I figured I’d answer it in a post: Do ice ages and tropical climate shifts as well as observed warming and melting of ice caps on Mars mean register with your ?logic?? I’ve expressed my concern with the vagueness of the claims, and was left with only Mars as valid question that I could specifically answer: You mentioned the warming that has been observed on Mars. This is usually mentioned in an effort to claim that solar activity is the dominant factor in causing our planet to warm, since it’s also causing Mars to warm. If this is where you’re going with that, let me know. For now, I’ll assume I’m correct in that assumption. First of all, this argument about Mars is hypocritical: One hundred years of weather station temperature data all over the globe and these guys still don’t buy it. Three photos of one piece of ice on Mars and they have no d... More About: Mart , War , Ming , Armin
Awesome Blog Awards
2007-03-10 05:49:01 I decided recently that my blog is so awesome that it deserves some awards. So since nobody wants to give me any, I made up some of my own. The only thing I can think of that I’ve done that’s worthy of any kind of award so far is making the Wordpress top 100 lists. I have now been on the Growing Blog s list twice and I’m linked on the Top Posts list once. So, I made three buttons that symbolize these achievements, including the Top Blogs list, which I haven’t cracked yet: Wordpress Top 100 Blogs List Wordpress Top 100 Posts List Wordpress Top 100 Growing Blogs List We have Top Blogs as gold, Top Posts as silver, and Growing Blogs as bronze. Then, I can keep a running list of what I’ve accomplished in wordpress by posting these medals in a sidebar widget every time I make one of the lists, and linking each one to the particular day’s list that I’m on. Like anybody else, I’m a sucker for compliments. But what’s even better than ... More About: Awards , Blog Awards , Awesome , War
Global Warming Myths Exposed - Part Two
2007-03-08 17:47:01 This post is a continuation of the “Global War ming Myths Expo sed!” post, in which we discussed the Kyoto Protocol, and some of the concerns that are generally expressed about it. In this second part of the series, I’d like to focus on another very common myth - the myth that there is no consensus on global warming. First, I’d like to say that when we use the word “consensus”, it should be understood that we mean “scientific consensus”. If a debate were to take place over global warming, it would be happening in the scientific community, through research that is published in peer-reviewed journals. When determining the level of certainty about climate change, it should not matter what Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity,Al Gore, or any other lay person thinks. These people and others only serve as vessels for communicatinga particularposition. Any person, scientist or not, can write an op-ed piece for a newspaper, or an article for a popular...
Breaking News: Iran Primed for Attack!
2007-03-07 05:45:01 Luckily, we have an insider in Tehran, reporting live as events unfold: For those who think EyeRun is not targeting American interest. Now just look at this. At first glance you see some people doing exercises in a park. Now let?s look at this from above. Yes you got it Morse code. Some standing (dot) and some bent (line). ? ? ? ? ?? ???? ??? ?ATTACK !? More About: News , Iran , Breaking News , Break , King
The Great Global Warming Swindle
2007-03-07 05:45:01 On Thursday, a controversial documentary will air on Channel 4 in the UK. This documentary will present a very one-sided view on climate issues: Nobody in the documentary defends the greenhouse effect theory, as it claims that climate change is natural, has been occurring for years, and ice falling from glaciers is just the spring break-up and as normal as leaves falling in autumn. I just want to caution those who plan to watch it to thoroughly examine the claims made in the film. If we take a look at the man behind the documentary, we can see that there is ample reason to be skeptical of his work. The director of the film is a man named Martin Durkin, who has also spearheaded other controversial projects in the past: Mr Durkin has often been accused of taking liberties with the facts. In 1997 he made a series for Channel 4 called ?Against Nature?, which compared environmentalists with Nazis, conspiring against the world?s poor. No one would suggest that green claims should not be ... More About: Global Warming , Wind , Great , War , Global
Scooter Libby Found Guilty
More articles from this author:2007-03-07 05:45:01 The jury is in, and Scooter Libby has been found guilty on four of five counts: Libby was convicted of: obstruction of justice when he intentionally deceived a grand jury investigating the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame; making a false statement by intentionally lying to FBI agents about a conversation with NBC newsman Tim Russert; perjury when he lied in court about his conversation with Russert; a second count of perjury when he lied in court about conversations with other reporters. Jurors cleared him of a second count of making a false statement relating to a conversation he had with Matt Cooper of Time magazine. Libby, 56, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. A hearing on a presentencing report is scheduled for June 5. More About: Guilt , Guilty 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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