3.19.2008

but we bought 5 seasons of Climate Connections...

I got a good chuckle from this story this morning on th drive in.

Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating up ocean waters. They hold much more heat than the atmosphere can. So Willis has been studying the ocean with a fleet of robotic instruments called the Argo system. The buoys can dive 3,000 feet down and measure ocean temperature. Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.
"There has been a very slight cooling, but not anything really significant," Willis says. So the buildup of heat on Earth may be on a brief hiatus. "Global warming doesn't mean every year will be warmer than the last. And it may be that we are in a period of less rapid warming."
Or maybe climate models predicting a climatic apocalypse are just plain wrong.

Climate science: where Occam’s razor doesn’t apply.

3.18.2008

Sullivan’s Latest Crush

Here’s a pretty good demonstration of Andrew Sullivan’s latest bout of intellectual inconsistency:

Remember this next time someone on the religious right says something vile. “The full record of _____’s oratory is much broader, more complicated and more nuanced than the handful of quotes from a few inflammatory sermons.”

Also, where was
this guy when Fallwell blamed 9/11 on gays? “When will people accept that strongly worded condemnations of the United States are a fundamental part of our literary tradition–as they should be of any vibrant democracy?”

And then there’s
this: “Because I think that the kind of politics that ensures that someone’s pastor’s rhetoric trumps every other issue in a campaign is waning.” Why, just a few days ago John McCain’s fleeting association with John Hagee was worth mentioning.

I wonder why Sullivan doesn’t understand that the full record of Hagee’s oratory is much broader, more complicated, and more nuanced than the handful of quotes from a few inflammatory sermons. When will he accept that strongly worded condemnations are a fundamental part of our literary tradition–as they should be of any vibrant democracy?
Why did Sullivan make such an uproar about Hagee, but so little uproar about Wright?
Doesn’t the answer have to be about race?

How can anyone take this guy seriously when his value system seems entirely dependant on whether he likes someone or not?

3.16.2008

strange website

(karla here, who can't remember her password)

I found this strange website.

May I suggest using all cowboy, all diarrhea.