Sunday, June 12, 2011

Where has Science gone?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/09/science-rocky-mountains-snowpack-water.html


CogitatusPrimus, We agree that extrapolating data to theories, to accepted theory is tried and true. Complex theory that is built upon accepted theory is a different thing.
With few exceptions, any extrapolated theory must withstand scrutiny. Abiogenisists had an extrapolated theory, that botulism spontaneously occurred given the right conditions. At the time, it was a widely accepted theory until it was confounded by Pasteur's experiment. Pasteur demonstrated that high temperature kills microbes, a major break through in science. Pasteur's experiment was easily repeatable, and was so convincing that his opponents conceded defeat before it was concluded.

If factors of a theory can proved to be wrong, then it is falsifiable. Any theory is technically considered true, until it is proven false. Obviously, the world hires scientists and consider their theories more credible than a kindergaarten student. But in theory some savant or super genius 10 year old, could produce data that falsifies, or discovers new information that invalidates standing theory. Unless, of course it is AGW, This theory has become so politicized, it is akin to the days before Galileo, or Pasteur. Accepted science must be open to falsifiability. The fact that those who's salaries are paid by tax payers and universities to perpetuate the theory has placed the field in moral jeopardy. Anyone who loves science and bring hypothesis that disagrees is construed to be in the pocket of big oil, thereby neutralizing their counter theory. This might be acceptable if they could produce no data that falsifies, or brings theory into question. There is no excuse for the way this question has been handled by "the establishment"


  • A theory is supported by data derived from repeatable experiments that result in the same conclusions.'

    Some would suggest that since there is no 2nd Earth to run repeatable experiments on, then anthropogenic climate change can never be 'accepted'.

    However, the theory that CO2 and other infrared-active gases do absorb and emit longwave radiation has been proven by lab experiments. Reduced outgoing LW radiation and increased downward LW radiation have been measured.

    The effects of various natural forcings have been examined.

    Is that approach sufficient?
    _____________

    In short, no. The data that shows Co2 gasses absorb infrared light, and the determination it does so is good science. It is experimentally repeatable. However to take that determination and extrapolate it to global climate systems is hugely problematic. The global warming advocates refuse to admit that. There are other experimental results that reinforce the AGW theory. For example the experimental fact that CO2 measured in Hawaii is now 392 ppm, compared to 358.4 ppm 20 years ago.
    This is good science. Various experiments verify that measurement repeatedly within appropriate margins of error. It is valid and is empirically supported to say atmospheric CO2 levels have increased over the past 20 years. The scientific methodology for both of these understandings is broadly accepted and repeatable. The error margins and conclusions have been accepted by peer review, and are not falsifiable.

    The problem is when we erect complex theories around these conclusions. Erecting theories is fine, but to suggest that they are accepted without further study is disingenuous. The problem is multiplied by the way scrutiny is handled, the way questions are shouted down, the way that equally valid measurement is discounted. To say the science is settled on complex theory and anthropogenic global warming is established fact does irreparable damage to the discipline and seriously undermines scientific credibility.

    No other field is as intolerant to criticism, skeptical questioning, and scrutiny of datum.
  • Nice try 77Alethia77 but you are slyly trying to confound an hypothesis and a theory. Other deniers have tried to do this in the past. It is the old 'as soon as some observation that doesn't fit the theory is found the whole thing must be chucked' argument used to dismiss climate change theory by treating it like an hypothesis. Much of what you say is correct, but it is correct about an hypothesis, not a theory, and no, they are not nearly the same thing.

    A theory is an intellectual framework which explains as best possible a series of observations of the natural world. As such, a theory may subsume many individual hypotheses which may be tested, and provisionally pass, or fail on their own without necessarily invalidating the entire theory. Almost every theory made has been subject to failure of some aspect of it, followed by closer examination of that failure, followed by further refinement of the theory. Theories are discarded not when they fail to predict and explain all subsequent tests and observations, but when these failures are explained better by a new theory. Even then some aspects of the old theory have their merits, which is why newtonian physics is still taught in school although Newton has been superseded by better theories.

    A couple of other points:
    Climate change advocates understand very well that extrapolating physics experiments to a global scale is hugely problematic. That is why they have devised methods to check their results.
    Questions are not shouted down. The basic open and fair debates happened three decades ago. Your side lost.
    Every example of 'equally valid measurements' posted here have turned out to be fraudulent.

    I guess you are right about the sad state of education today.
    R
    Oh yes, I might add:
    There is an entire industry dedicated to bringing on a new dark age. In service to their corporate masters they spread disinformation and confusion about things which interfere with the continued accumulation of wealth and power by the elites, such as science which supports consciousness of environmental damage, climate change, evolution, the link between fast foods and disease, etc. The contrarians who post on these websites post links to the 'shock troops' of this industry (websites of conservative and corporate-funded 'think tanks' with high-sounding names and unscrupulous personnel) all the time, like the Heartland Institute and the ironically-named American Council on Science and Health (which promotes misinformation that will degrade your knowledge of the first and prevent your maintenance of the second)
  •   There is data publicly available that demonstrates fraud in the collecting and graphic evidence that is known to be used by the scientists under the employ of the IPCC, the International Panel for Climate Change. Skeptics, labeled nay-sayers, doubters, stupid, unintellectual, poor scientists, obstructionists, religious, right wing, conservatives, fascists, the list goes on. Giving you the benefit of the doubt cog, I will posit that your baseless charges of fraud were spoken naively. Especially since, with greatest Irony, climate scientists in New Zealand have been declared Fraudsters by the court of law! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/25/uh-oh-raw-data-in-new-zealand-tells-a-different-story-than-the-official-one/ The court ruled that temperatures data were manipulated to agree with IPCC opinion.

      If the global warming theorists would recognize that their theories must be open to critique, they might have some shred of veracity. But, to lie, commit fraud, manipulate editorial boards of major science publications to agree with "established science" makes the whole matter look all the worse. When ever someone says the jury's out, its all settled now, or this was disproven in the past, and in any other way stifles inquiry, then we are back to the days of Galileo with the New Church: The IPCC calling the shots.

Legal evidence of fraud in climate science.

Legal Defeat for Global Warming in Kiwigate Scandal

MR NEWS's picture
John O'Sullivan
Suite 101
October 6, 2010
In the climate controversy dubbed Kiwigate,New Zealand skeptics inflict shock courtroom defeat on climatologists implicated in temperature data fraud.
New Zealand’s government via its National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has announced it has nothing to do with the country’s “official” climate record in what commentators are calling a capitulation from the tainted climate reconstruction. The story is also covered on web news aggregator site, icecap.com.
NIWA’s statement of defense claims they were never responsible for the national temperature record (NZTR).The climb down is seen as a legal triumph for skeptics of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition (NZCSC) who had initiated their challenge last August when petitioning the high court of New Zealand to invalidate the weather service’s reconstruction of antipodean temperatures. The NZCSC Petition may be read here.
According to the August official statement of the claim from NZCSC, climate scientists cooked the books by using the same alleged ‘trick’ employed by British and American scientists. This involves subtly imposing a warming bias during what is known as the ‘homogenisation’ process that occurs when climate data needs to be adjusted.
The specific charge brought against the Kiwi government was that its climate scientists had taken the raw temperature records of the country and then adjusted them artificially with the result that a steeper warming trend was created than would otherwise exist by examination of the raw data alone.
Indeed, the original Kiwi records show no warming during the 20th century, but after government sponsored climatologists had manipulated the data a warming trend of 1C appeared.
New Zealand Government Abandons ‘Official’ Climate Record
The NZCSC story reports that the NZ authorities, “formally stated that, in their opinion, they are not required to use the best available information nor to apply the best scientific practices and techniques available at any given time. They don’t think that forms any part of their statutory obligation to pursue “excellence.”
NIWA now denies there was any such thing as an “official” NZ Temperature Record, although there was an official acronym for it (NZTR). However, the position now taken by the NZ government is that all such records are now to be deemed as unofficial and strictly for internal research purposes.
The article urges that if the government will not affirm that their temperature reconstruction is official then, “Nobody else should rely on it.”
Researcher from Climategate University Implicated in Data Fraud
As reported in a Suite101 article by the same writer of April 2010 'Kiwigate is a Carbon Copy of Climategate' it was shown that the scientist who made the controversial “bold adjustments” is none other than Jim Salinger who is also a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Because very few temperature records exist for the Pacific Ocean, the NIWA record is given extra weight by the UN’s IPCC for determining multi-decadal trends in global average temperatures.
Salinger was dismissed by NIWA earlier this year for speaking without authorization to the media. The researcher originally worked at Britain’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU), the institution at the center of the Climategate scandal.
Salinger was also among the inner circle of climate scientists whose leaked emails precipitated the original climate controversy in November 2009. In an email (August 4, 2003) to fellow American climate professor, Michael Mann, Salinger stated he was “extremely concerned about academic standards” among climate skeptics.
Data Destroyed Before it Could be Independently Verified
In circumstances strangely similar to those witnessed in the Climategate controversy, Kiwigate appears to match Climategate in three key facets. First, climate scientists declined to submit their data for independent analysis. Second, when backed into a corner the scientists claimed their adjustments had been ‘lost’. Third, the raw data itself proves no warming trend.
Downloadable pdf files of letters between Coalition chairman and barrister Barry Brill and NIWA chairman Chris Mace may be read here.
References:
Dunleavy MBE, T.,'High Court asked to invalidate NIWA’s official NZ temperature record,' (August 13,2010); climatescience.org.nz, (accessed online: October 6, 2010)
Atkins, Holm, Joseph & Majurey., [Solicitors],’Statement of Defence on Behalf of the Defendant,’ [On behalf of NIWA], (September 14, 2010)
Costa, A.C. and A. Soares, ‘Homogenization of Climate Data: Review and New Perspectives Using Geostatistics,’ Mathematical Geoscience, Volume 41, Number 3 / April, 2009.
New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, ‘NIWA Challenged to Show Why and How Temperature Records Were Adjusted’ (February 7, 2010), accessed online April 26, 2010.
NZCSC & Climate Science Conversation Group; Press Statement of December 18, 2009; accessed online ( April 26, 2010).
Salinger, J. Climategate email Filename: 1060002347.txt. (August 4, 2003)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Dialogue on AGW continued...

(Question): A theory is supported by data derived from repeatable experiments that result in the same conclusions.'

Some would suggest that since there is no 2nd Earth to run repeatable experiments on, then anthropogenic climate change can never be 'accepted'.

However, the theory that CO2 and other infrared-active gases do absorb and emit longwave radiation has been proven by lab experiments. Reduced outgoing LW radiation and increased downward LW radiation have been measured.

The effects of various natural forcings have been examined.

Is that approach sufficient?


 ______

Owen
In short, no. The data that shows Co2 gasses absorb infrared light, and the determination it does so is good science. It is experimentally repeatable. However to take that determination and extrapolate it to global climate systems is hugely problematic. The global warming advocates refuse to admit that. There are other experimental results that reinforce the AGW theory. For example the experimental fact that CO2 measured in Hawaii is now 392 ppm, compared to 358.4 ppm 20 years ago.
This is good science. Various experiments verify that measurement repeatedly within appropriate margins of error. It is valid and is empirically supported to say atmospheric CO2 levels have increased over the past 20 years. The scientific methodology for both of these understandings is broadly accepted and repeatable. The error margins and conclusions have been accepted by peer review, and are not falsifiable.

The problem is when we erect complex theories around these conclusions. Erecting theories is fine, but to suggest that they are accepted without further study is disingenuous. The problem is multiplied by the way scrutiny is handled, the way questions are shouted down, the way that equally valid measurement is discounted. To say the science is settled on complex theory and anthropogenic global warming is established fact does irreparable damage to the discipline and seriously undermines scientific credibility.

No other field is as intolerant to criticism, skeptical questioning, and scrutiny of datum.

Science

Science is about empiricism, skepticism, and falsifiability.  "Laws" of science are very rare.  Newton's laws are an example of this.  They are the closest thing to fact available to skepticism and scientific theory.  They are not perceived to be falsifiable--at least to the quantum threshold.  A law is the closest thing to scientific fact, as it has never been disproved, withstands the most vigorous skeptical attack, and direct observable repeatability.

A theory is different.  It is only accepted as vaild when the evidence is not found to be false.  A theory is supported by data derived from repeatable experiments that result in the same conclusions.  A theory has not been falsified, but may exist amidst data and conclusions that raise doubt.  A theory is set aside only when it is falsified by empirical evidence that withstands skeptic scrutiny.  This scrutiny is supposed to be provided today by the peer-review process that precedes publication in scientific journals.

I am not sure why these important distinctions appear not to be taught anymore.  It is very troubling and a root problem in the various scientific debates of our day.  I don't know where our educational system is falling down.  These differences should be well understood before highschool graduation.  It appears however that we are graduating students from universities and colleges no clue about them at all.  These people now teach our children causing hope for science to dim.  This problem is reflected broadly in these commentaries.  I can't believe that most of these posters are ignorant, uneducated people.

There is no such thing as a settled theory, or established scientific fact beyond refute.  If that were to occur science would cease and a new dark age loom.

Creationist/evolutionist debates.

Religion and Science need not be fighting with one another.  They ask different questions.  Science asks how was it made: Religion asks why was it made?  When the religious perspective attempts to comment on the "hows/the process of creation," it really does violence to the texts, and is akin to philosophy commenting on the scientific aspects astro-biology.  Or the biological community becoming upset with physicists making biological constructs. (Roger Penrose, Hawkings equal in Oxford, got into a spot of trouble in exactly this way as a result of his book: "The Large, The Small, and the Human Mind")

Poaching in other's back yard happens in all disciplines.  Biblical texts were never intended to convey How God created, the process by which he did it--the stuff of empirical observation, but drives forward asking why He would do such a thing.

For humans it is natural to desire that their world view can explain all things, but is that a realistic pursuit?  Its when science leaves science to play with faith that it gets itself into trouble, just as religion does by accepting that its pursuit is about the tangibles, the empirical evidences of God.  That isn't to say one field cannot inform the other, so long as each has a proper understanding and appreciation of their own limits.

Friday, June 10, 2011

ArthurPalidenstandard2011/06/09
at 9:20 PM ET
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Go into a field. Find a lump of clay. Put said lump of clay in a glass of distilled water. Wait a couple of days the glass will be full of life. Of course you may need a microscope to see most of it.

________________ 

At ArthurPaladin:
And your point would be? Are you aware this is almost exactly the experiment put to Pasteur prior to his famous experiment against abiogenists? So questions arise: Did you not learn this in your educational experience? If not, why not? How far did your education take you? Did you graduate from highschool? Did you graduate with an undergraduate degree? If so, what institution would grant a degree without instilling that major scientific advancement? If you have no idea about these things, why are you posting on this topic? Have you no shame?


http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/09/science-asteroids-meteorite-organic-amino.html

To my Math Genius friends...

Today CBC http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/09/science-asteroids-meteorite-organic-amino.html This statement is made: @Ainulindale I find it fascinating that you can sit there pontificating that it is statistically impossible for humans to exist today with out a creator to create them. I know it may be hard for someone who's world view is grounded in faith to understand, but just because you say something it doesn't make it true.

You have to fulfill a very specific set of criteria to say that something a statically unlikely. You have to to show that the probability of something happening is significantly bellow some threshold. To do this you have to be able to calculate the probability have ending up with a human through nature process, with no intelligence behind them. I would be very interested in seeing your calculations for this seeing as we do not know a lot of the factors that would effect this. Even for things that we think life does need to form and grow, like a planet with the correct make up and temperature, we don't have a good handle on their frequency in the universe.

So please regale all us math deficient people with you superior skills and prove to us that it is statistically unlikely for humans to form without the assistance of a creator or stop using a sciency sounding arguments to justify your faith. I wish I could say, I have a grad degree in math, or a PhD in mathematcs, and leave a resounding response!
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Friday, June 3, 2011

Alethia

I don't know, if the situation were reversed, I would rather have a perimeter fence with the US filtering out terrorists Canada bound... wait a minute...

______________________

Alethia


Perhaps you weren't taught a fundamental principle of democracy: Abstaining, is absolutely voting for the majority.

I know, it isn't very well understood. No doubt many abstained because they didn't care... that's ok--the rest of did.

Some abstained in protest trying for "none of the above" that's ok its a free country. It wouldn't be a real democracy if everyone was forced to vote...

But if our "liberal" education system failed to teach you this fundamental truth, it is no surprise--it has failed a lot of us for a long time. If you are teacher who deals with democracy and haven't taught this, shame on you! If you are an "educated elite" with one or more degrees, and haven't been taught this, well..

 _________________________

Would that be the same "left wing base" the G&M played to when they endorsed the Harper Conservatives in the last three elections?

Which "MSM" would be continually slagging the "Cons and Harper"?

Would that be the G&M owned by those socialists, the Thomson Family?

Perhaps you meant CTV run by the lefties in the executives Bell Media?

Maybe you meant MacLeans magazine owned by the Leninist Rogers family?

How about the Sun newspaper chain and Sun TV owned by that Trotskyite Karl Peladeau that attacks Harper and the Cons non-stop?

Or the stalinists at Corus?

The maoists in the Shaw family?

Or how about that bastion of pinkism, the CBC TV newtwork where their foremost political commentators are almost exclusively conservatives - Rex Murphy, Alan Gregg and Andrew Coyne?

Or how about The National Post, they're continually slagging Harper and the Cons, aren't they?

You know what I think baeto?

I think you've been unconscious for the last five years and just came out of your coma.
_______________

sirencall

2:54 PM on June 3, 2011
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"Follow the money" of our media franchises and scare yourself silly.

The NDP don't have a hope of getting reasonable press.
______________

Alethia

You know Thomas, on this I have to agree. As a conservative, I have a thing about pulling your own weight, and not living on the taxpayer's dime. So the CBC and its billions of tax dollars it has spent over the years has irked me. It irked me especially because it sold a brand of liberalism that undermined our country.

But since 1994, and the rise of the reform, western right, the CBC obviously has seen the writing on the wall. They aren't stupid. They can point to Rex, and the others to suggest they have a balanced point of view. Yes they have a few icons, but is balanced the right term to use? Since the CBC has been undertaking social engineering in Canada for 50 years, they now have a healthy base of followers. If those Canadians want to fund the CBC let them do so. If the CBC doesn't want to include advertisements from commercial/non-political entities, let them raise their money directly from Canadians that like the CBC spin.
Instantly, the hew and the cry from the right will calm down, because they won't be paying for ideology that attacks their family, and their country.
____________
 

sirencall


Alethia - how on earth does the CBC attack our country?

You do know the CBC was initiated by a Conservative government in order to increase nationalism, right?

Alethia

Alethia. Show DetailsHide Details
Since Trudeau declared all the evils of the world sprang from nationalism, the CBC ceased its original mandate. It has been on the fore-front of every attack on Canadian values for the past 40 years. Its mandate ceased to be nationalism, instead, it became the organ of social engineering that has undermined the country in countless ways.

 __________________

Barry.T

4:04 PM on June 3, 2011
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IF HARPER WAS A SMALL-C CONSERVATIVE HIS THRONE SPEECH WOLD SAY:

Our alleged conservative PM has demonstrated an eagerness to enhance the already immense and excessively expensive powers of the nanny state, to increase his government’s capacity and enthusiasm for intruding into our private life, to absolutely discount any serious spending discipline, to promulgate a distressing protectionist message to the world that Canada isn’t open to foreign investment,
and an eagerness also to reject any right-of–centre social restructuring notwithstanding how sagacious it would be.

If Canadians had elected a legitimate small-c fiscal conservative he would not pretending to “restrain spending increases”, but would initiate a spending slashing program review that would eliminate the $30 billion dollar deficit in two years. He would therefore:

Cut overall program spending by 20% bringing expenditures back to pre-stimulus 2008 levels;

Lay-off 20% of overpaid, redundant bureaucrats within the next 2 years, and freeze the salary and benefits for as long as it takes to bring them in line with private sector workers.

A genuine conservative government would abolish federal employee’s unions;

Privatize the CBC, Canada Post, Via Rail, and Federal prisons;

Sell government assets such as some government jets, and some crown timber land;

Eliminate downsize and/or assimilate departments, and hundreds of worthless crown corporations such as the CRTC and CMHC;

Delay starting both the combat and non combat $25 billion ships contracts;

“Cut-as-you-Go that would oblige the government to sever equal value from existing programs when implementing any new expenditure;

Op out of the Climate Change Fund;

Purge most specific tax credits that are really costly expenditures;

Abolish most corporate welfare;

Get rid of Regional Development Programs;

Eliminate the majority of arts subsidies, all language subsidies, festivals grants, NGO’s subsidies, as well as nearly all other grants and contributions;

Re-write the Canada Health Act that currently places control of our top-down, government-rationed system in hands bureaucrats rather than the more efficient, cost-beneficial private sector

Reduce the rate of increase to provincial transfers;

Reform the current welfare-state social assistance system;

Abolish all marketing boards like the dairy board, and the wheat board;

Radically transform the infinitely expensive immigrant/refugee policies;

Why would a fiscally responsible PM, with a $30 billion dollar deficit and a debt of $800 billion, borrow billions of dollars to increase foreign aid by 8% annually?;

Phase out the concept of “universality”, and expedite “means testing”, at least for the COLA clause in some programs;

Gradually increase the retirement age to 70 by 2025, and reduce cost-of-living increases for higher earners;
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w blazejewski

4:07 PM on June 3, 2011
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You are full of it!

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4:12 PM on June 3, 2011
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I consider myself small-c and I can't go along with most of this. I think this is Big C, where most Canadians don't want to go.
I don't want slashing in spending to be so aggressive it undermines the economy. Being conservative doesn't mean abandoning compassion. Health care is an expression of that. --as are things like the Canada pension program, or foreign aid. If the poorest of the countries of the world can live without malaria, there will be fewer thinking they need to move to Canada, as they create wealth instead of orphans, they will eventually trade with us. That is a good conservative strategy.
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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Canada and over-seas bases?

news.ca.msn.com
Canada is looking at setting up bases around the world to better position the military to participate in international missions, Defence Minister Pete
5 hours ago · · ·


    • Tyler Knight
      Just a bunch of more bullshit and tax dollars going to waste. I'm going to guess we have to spend millionsor billions on these countires just for the opportunity to put bases in their countries....not to mention building and upkeeping them.......not to mention a bigger military budget for personnel and equipment....not to mention....the list keeps going. Just more corporate bigbusiness interests being looked after...while the working class gets taxed to death and eradicated from the system all together. Thanks Canada...for becoming like the USA. We know how far their wars have taken them.See More
      4 hours ago ·
    • Owen Abrey The angst about potential money pits is valid. However, I wonder if the UAE debacle is behind this. We had the base, Mirage for free if I understand correctly, because of our purpose to benefit the ME. Then it was pulled because we wouldn't comply with a bribe. Which led to a lot of expense rerouting our traffic. I suppose a base would give fixed costs and guaranteed access...

One Cellphone Quiescence...

Like a reformed smoker who suddenly can taste, and discovers the stench other smokers leave behind, I, a reformed cell phone user, have noticed the addictive nature of cell-phones and especially texts. How many people can resist peeking at their cell for more than a minute before checking a buzz?

I have decided I don't particularly like being bothered by phones ringing. Reminds me of Alexander Graham Bell, who had his telephone installed down the hill and by the road because he didn't like interruption either. The silence in my house, being on the do not call list, and having no cellphones or teenagers any more is amazing. Soothing. Transcendent...

Discussion on Bill Bennet's Face Book Page.

  • Robert Goldwin Clark David S is a disgrace to Canada and should recieve the reciprical "Enemy of Canada Award!!!"
    16 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey Hi Bill, I read the article and responded:
    15 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey Also blogged it at http://paradoxicalx3.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-favorite-rant-david-suzuki.html** facebook said it was too big for your comments section.
    15 hours ago ·

  • Nipper Kettle David another Fear Mongering tactic GLOBAL WARMING we have been going though these changes since the begining of time.Certainly no warming here
    15 hours ago via Facebook Mobile ·

  • David G. Field
    ‎@ Nipper-I was wondering when you would pipe up with your inane comments. It's almost as predictable as rain in April in BC. I guess your right and every other scientist on the planet is wrong. So what degree in biology, geology, enviro...nmental science do you hold, or did you just shake a bunch of bones in a bowl and throw them on the ground to make this prediction. For the love of pete do some reading on the subject before you respond in the future. It would save you from showing your a&% to the world.See More

    15 hours ago ·

  • David G. Field Hey Nipple, I'll help you out with your research. http://www.newsweek.com/2011/05/29/are-you-ready-for-more.html
    14 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey I would prefer a peer-reviewed journal David--at least. Even better, I would like to read the actual experimental data before interpolation.
    14 hours ago ·

  • David G. Field
    Part of the problem, in both Canada and the US, is that there is too much political interference by lobbyists that would much prefer the status quo to remain. The oil lobbyists don't give a rats patootie what happens fifty years from now, ...they're only interested in accumulating at much wealth as they can while still alive. The Conservative government muzzles every civil department from commenting publicly on climate change and the dangers of GHG emissions. A prime example is the world wide efforts of the Harperites trying to influence foreign policy.See More

    14 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey On that I agree David. We have become scientific illiterates who swallow what ever is spoon fed to us, rather than doing the research.
    14 hours ago ·

  • Suzanne Wemp And most of the "science" that is fed to us is from corporation funded "research". Very, very little of it is credible, unbiased and trustworthy.
    14 hours ago ·

  • Bill Bennett Interesting inference, that the science "fed to us" is bad information because a company paid to have it done...frankly science provided by the environmental community is easily as suspect.
    14 hours ago · · 1 personLoading...

  • Suzanne Wemp Certainly all science should be suspect. And hold up to scrutiny. However most, if not all, environmental organizations don't make millions or billions in profits if their science proves true, so I consider their science far less suspect.
    13 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey I agree bill, information is purveyed by people who want to sell us on it.
    13 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey That becomes more important than the content too often. The biggest scam/corporations are the green ones like Suzuki's.
    13 hours ago ·

  • Terry Hand and science fed by corporates is equally suspect and flawed the tobacco industry would be a good example. Bottom line is that greed has no distinction whether corporate or grassroots environmentalist EVERYONE as they say,has their price, Certainly due diligence is required on the part of the public and the old adage rings true, "when you snooze you lose!"
    13 hours ago ·

  • Suzanne Wemp Can you please clarify? What is their scam?
    13 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey Its a problem because we have forgotten how to read raw data. And the purveyors are counting on us not "looking under the hood" as it were.
    13 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey Invent enough crisis for people to rally and open their wallets to support the "cause". The greens are a well-funded well organized machine that will run you over if you remain skeptical. Who insist the science is "settled" but then lose the data... The supposed boogy men who fund the "counter-science" are rarely produced; and if you want grant money you need to research in a PC way.
    13 hours ago ·

  • Suzanne Wemp
    ‎@ Owen - Perhaps the greens are not really a "well-funded organized machine" but actually the majority of well informed citizens? And the research is not lost. Much of it has proven true. Yes, smoking does kill you. Yes, DDT is bad. Yes, n...itrates cause cancer. I could go on and on... All of that was thought to be "junk science" because big business didn't want it to be common knowledge. Respectfully Owen, I suggest that perhaps people such as yourself have "forgotten how to read raw data."See More

    13 hours ago ·

  • Nipper Kettle ‎@david fied :at least I am predictable and so are the fear mongers that have been crying wolf for so many years. you cannot even get 10 of these scientist to agree on the issue of Global Warming/climate change.It all about the money and who screams the loudest.
    13 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey
    I am not talking about smoking or ddt. That is ancient history. The prime example is Proffessor Jones of the IPCC "losing" all the raw data the UN has supposed to have accrued on global temperatures for a minimum of 50 years! And when yo...u actually find the raw data to compare to the lauded "scientists" you find this: **http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/25/uh-oh-raw-data-in-new-zealand-tells-a-different-story-than-the-official-one/** So now when I hear something that sounds like the popular myth of the "scientists", I say show me the data. The common man does not insist, so they get fed the regurgitated stuff too often purveyed by the likes of David Suzuki.See More

    13 hours ago · · 2 people2 people like this.

  • Suzanne Wemp ‎@Owen - if you think public and environmental health issues like smoking and ddt are "ancient history" then that speaks volumes to your capacity for comprehending the legacy of our public policy decisions. History is in the making :)
    12 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey Of course smoking is bad for you, and DDT has been banned in the US in 1976 & world wide under the Stockholm convention in 1995.
    12 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey The science, the data has long been reviewed. Sure the tobacco companies don't like it. Who cares? We are talking of scientific data. Which is absent in the popular-myth purveyed as science for the masses.
    12 hours ago · · 1 personLoading...

  • Suzanne Wemp ‎@Owen - Totally agreed. Which is why home owners still think using pesticides are safe. The didn't have the scientific data.
    12 hours ago ·

  • Greg Krasichynsky
    Science done by scientists and published in peer-reviewed journals is biased because those ivory tower elitist eggheads work for big knowledge. Facts are a matter of opinion. The tv says so. So my facts are every bit as valid as anyone's.... So are yours. It's a free country. Except for leftists, who should be locked up.

    Everybody knows that multi-billion dollar transnational hippie communes fund "environmental" stuff. For REAL information, it's best to go to those who have nothing to gain except huge amounts of money at no cost except everyone's but their own: Corporations!

    Who saved us when welfare recipients, sick children, unions, teachers, and the elderly brought down the economy? That's right - corporations. Who pays for your services and carries the heaviest tax burden in BC and Canada? That's right - corporations. And who has a record of consistently creating jobs when given billions in free taxpayer money? Yup - corporations.

    You leftists commie pinkos just aren't friendly to business. It's your socialistic fault that BC has a huge debt, faltering economy, rampant corruption, insane privatization, environmental deregulation, and loss of services. Because you're so.... so..... not like us salt of the earth regler foke whut just hates farners and believes the teevee. "If it's on tv, it has to be the truth" - Actual quote by conservative voter, said in all seriousness, and nearly in tears that anyone would question our great leador.

    Give generously - please help save corporations from eco-terrists!
    See More

    10 hours ago ·

  • Owen Abrey
    Peer-reviewed journals are not perfect, but without question they are better than the typical newspaper. Additionally, one needs to ask about the credentials of the author. For example, who granted the PhD? What was the area the PhD was ...focused? (a biologist making philosophical constructs and assumptions, or weighing-in, opining on cosmology, or meteorology, needs to be received by the reader rather tenuously.) When was the PhD granted? And Where has the author been recently published--In addition to who has funded the research. Extremely well-respected science can be done by scientists who receive corporate grants. In that case, as in any case, funding sources, terms of reference needs be appreciated to weigh the research against bias, a priori and prejudice.See More

    about an hour ago ·

  • Owen Abrey
    ‎@susanwemp: sometimes relative risks need to be considered. For example, when DDT is sprayed inside African homes, infant malarial infection rates drop 95%. So while a child *might* get sick from DDT, 1.2 million will die of malaria ever...y year, and 500 million will be malarial positive. When DDT was restricted, malaria rates skyrocketed. Now that DDT is being used again for vector control in Africa the incidences have significantly reduced. In many areas of the world, DDT virtually wiped out malaria, saving millions of lives, all the while being a health threat of vastly minor degree. These conclusions are derived from multiple peer-reviewed journals, with no notable moral hazards detected by authorship, journal editorship, or outside interests stacking editorial boards.


    • Bill Bennett This precisely the kind of facts the public would benefit from knowing.
      3 hours ago ·

    • Lisa Day and the next topic to tackle .. Climategate
      3 hours ago · · 1 personYou like this.

    • Bill Bennett I hope people will have that debate here. The public deserves to know the tenuous, even questionable, nature of the climate change hypothesis and the extent to which scientists now question that hypothesis. And if it is all true and Canada emits 2% of global, anthropomorphic CO2, shouldn't our tax dollars be focused on mitigation rather than prevention?
      3 hours ago · · 2 peopleLoading...

    • Owen Abrey Frankly Mr. Bennett, I think BC should consider the big one to hit Vancouver and our challenges being prepared re: upgrading/ rebuilding old apartment blocks, before even thinking about climate change right now. Millions are in mortal peril on the one hand vs. a longer growing season on the other.
      about an hour ago ·

    • Owen Abrey That was meant to be taken as ironic hyperbole.
      about an hour ago ·

    • Greg Krasichynsky
      The extent to which scientists question that hypothesis is negligible.

      Not to be confused with the huge extent to which it is questioned by fox-news scienticians affiliated with such esteemed global academic resources as the Fraser Institu...te and Hollywood upstairs deregulation college. Who can indeed also prove that if every little girl drinks a gallon of crude and smokes four packs a day, she will live to 200 years of age. There are statistics that back that up, from world renowned experts. Being on fox makes you world-renowned, and reading from exxon's scripts legally entitles you to be called an "expert." Statistics don't have to be legitimate or validated, they just have to back up a thesis.

      I love the idea that "big environmentalism" is forging studies and collecting lies from academics because of what they stand to gain from the poor polluters. It's not that they love clinging to life, it's that they hate business.

      I love even more that there are people on the record (being cited in the history books as fiercely committed) that make those assertions. How will their grandchildren view them? Will they, 50 years from now, admit that their grandparents stood up for banks, oil, and weapons, against the evil forces of clean air, drinkable water, the poor, the sick, and children? Will they be proud of the intelligence, education, wit, and compassion shown by their corporate-shill forbears?
      See More

      about an hour ago ·

    • Owen Abrey How much money was at stake in Copenhagen?
      about an hour ago ·

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

My favorite rant; David Suzuki

@DerekKoch: Think about it.  Suppose the juveniles acquire sea lice as they enter the ocean. They cause disease that leads to 95% mortality.  Unless sea lice were killing their hosts years and years later, when as it appears they are most healthy and most vigorous, how could volcanics help?
 One poster said salmon were even disfigured by it.  How likely is it that this dire blight would allow juveniles to enjoy the phyto plancton  and live to become adults.  It isn't a common understanding juveniles are surviving.
  The massive return of sockeye last year has been attributed to the phyto-plancton bloom.  That may be true.  But then I wonder who did this "study" to make this determination.  If it was a DFO study, (I know they released it) there was some explaining to do since their scientific predictions were so off, they didn't look remotely competent.  Or, was it the anti-farmed-salmon "scientists" like David Suzuki?  Suzuki has declared himself to be a scientist with profound expertise in everything from oil sands to grizzly bears, and makes a lot of money by it.  At least this time, oceanic micro biology, he comes close to the discipline he was granted a degree for.  But by his pontificating far and wide in areas far from his expertise, what real credibility can he maintain in all of this?  Especially considering the moral hazard of his directly benefiting from the "crisis of sea lice"?

Quebec's pampered place.

In the dying days of any regime change in Canada, fewer and fewer admit to voting for the government.
This is backwards, because few in Quebec want to admit they voted for NDP.  I can't imagine the embarrassment of the riding who voted for the pretty blond who was living it up in Las Vegas at the time. I wonder how many admit voting for her?

Still, Quebec is over represented to historical extremes when we look at the list of minister's promoted under Harper's government. 80%! Alberta would need 22 cabinet ministers to enjoy the same weight of influence.

So Quebec can breath easy because they still live in a pampered place in Canadian federalism, confident that they will not be punished for failing to vote strategically this time.