Not-the-Weekend Unthreaded

Sorry, I’ll be back soon…

6.8 out of 10 based on 14 ratings

77 comments to Not-the-Weekend Unthreaded

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    After a request yesterday, I’ve added a comment facility to uClimate.com. I’ve added comments before to other websites but with some 30+ new articles a day on climate I’m not sure how this will work.

    So I would really appreciate it if a few people could “give it a spin” so I can see whether it will work.

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    Charlie Flindt

    Some thoughts on cricket and climate change, from an Englishman….

    I think our Australian friends seem to have it all wrong about the Ashes. They seem to think that we are distraught, inconsolable, weeping uncontrollably into our warm beer.

    The truth is very different. We English are very fond of our Antipodean friends; we love them, and their land. We love their no-nonsense approach to life, the universe, and, of course, cricket.

    But the last few years have seen an identity crises envelop this far-off land. I knew there was trouble afoot about three years ago, when, one day, the lovely Mrs Flindt asked me to pop into Boots the Chemist while I was in town, and get some more of ‘this excellent shampoo’. I grabbed the empty bottle and set off. Once into the Hell-on-earth that is Boots the Chemist I thought I had better just check what exactly I was supposed to buy. And once I had my glasses on, I had a shock. It was Australian.

    The Aussies? Doing hair care? I was stunned. And it got worse. I found where to buy the new bottle, but was faced with a vast array of different types of shampoo and conditioner. I could choose ‘glossy shine’, ‘miracle moist’ , ‘flair and flouncy’…..the list was endless. Was this truly coming from Australia – the land where the best a man could get used to be a smear of tractor grease? Where they going soft in the head – literally?

    And then they elected Julia Gillard. Now, we all know politicians are the most unpleasant of people. But female politicians seem to be worse than male ones. And chippy left-wing Welsh ones……well, words desert me. Sure enough, she turned out to be a wrong ‘un. About as wrong as they can get. She set about the now-traditional left-wing hobby – nay, obsession – of destroying her county’s economy, armed with the notorious carbon tax – the very thing she had solemnly promised NOT to introduce. Was the most common sense nation on the planet really buying into the Great Global Warming Scam?

    At about the same time, the Australian cricket team went to pieces. Coincidence? Many Oz-watchers thoughts not. We were sure that the players had become too worried about the carbon footprint of using two hair care products; would using a combined shampoo/conditioner save the Maldives (and the four new airports that they have inexplicably built recently) from vanishing beneath catastrophic sea-level rise? How can you concentrate on Finn’s steepling bounce, or Anderson’s away-swinger when your mind is teeming with enviro-angst?

    So you can imagine the joy that we Australophiles have felt this winter as a team of old-fashioned Australian cricketing yobs have sneeringly and ruthlessly bullied and crushed our team of stary-eyed weedy English crickbots into the fine, dry Australian dirt. How we have chuckled as our mercenary gathering of charisma-free imported foreigners have crumbled, bombed or just run away. Is Australia rediscovering itself? Well, it certainly decided it has had enough of the wretched, mewling, screeching Ms Gillard. The man at the helm is leading the Anglosphere’s fightback against the lefty-liberal greenwash that threatens to drag us back to the dark ages.

    Coincidence? I don’t think so. Australia and its lovely people are rediscovering themselves. When I next visit the haircare section of Boots the Chemist, and find the Aussie shampoo section gone, I’ll know I was right. It’ll be a bit of a shame, though: the shampoo was actually rather good.

    And anyway – it’s just a game.

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      janama

      Onya Charlie – great post 🙂

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      Roy Hogue

      Add my support and love of Australia to Charlie Flindt’s. I couldn’t be rubbing elbows with a finer group of people than those I’ve met on this blog.

      And the Aussies are exporting more than hair care. I see several medicinal products prominently advertised here in the U.S.

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      Rereke Whakaaro

      Australia has a very unique culture.

      When you have a conversation with a real honest-to-goodness Australian you come away feeing enriched, enlightened, and empowered. It is a spiritual experience.

      Practically all of the real Australians I have met are honest, hard working, generous, and very friendly.

      It’s the white immigrants you have to watch. If they can steal a country, they will steal anything.

      Just kidding … sorta.

      Cue the anti-Kiwi jokes …

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      Ian Hill

      Now I know where today’s male teenagers get their obsession for hair care products, which seem to multiply in the bathroom overnight. They gain it at school after their compulsory viewing of An Inconvenient Truth.

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      Grant (NZ)

      I am certainly glad you were buying shampoo and not the genuine article 🙂

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      Bones

      The biggest improvement in OZ cricket,Charlie is no overseas import coach or trainers.We have all our own back now.

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    Popeye

    Nature magazine gave Turkey Turney a pulpit in an attempt to give him some credibility but it didn’t turn out all that well. Link

    Well worth reading the respondent bloggers comments – hehehe

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      Speedy

      Roast Turkney, stewed in his own juice.

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      Tim

      As a non-scientist, I’m trying to get a meaningful message from Turney’s: ‘remobilized sea ice’ ‘mass breakout of multi­year ice’ and ‘transitory upwelling’ to explain his recent predicament.

      Could it possibly be: ‘just more bloody ice’?

      http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/24/a-new-record-the-most-sea-ice-in-antarctica-in-30-years-by-extent-and-by-volume/

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        Rereke Whakaaro

        They are scientific terms, that somebody who lacks the intellectual acumen of a climate scientist, will find very hard to grasp.

        But, in simple layperson terms, we encountered some very hostile, and well trained, sea ice formations (presumably mobilized, and financed, by “Big Oil”TM).

        But we would not flinch from our purpose, and so we pressed on, only to encounter further ice that had been clandestinely lying in wait for several years, just to entrap valiant explorers such as ourselves.

        As a last resort, and in much peril, I had no other option but to lead our courageous party to face the enemy, and deal with the ice on our own terms. And what a courageous party that was. Observing how the party progressed, it was evident that the years of training had finally paid off. As we returned victorious, I felt a transitory upwelling of joy and pride in my achievements, for nobody in recorded history had previously accomplished what I had done.

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          Bones

          See,I warned you a couple of days ago.Intelligent ice is gangreening up on humans.We are all in deep DOO Doo.Better buy several good quality hair dryers,you will need the heat

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    mmxx

    Great site, Jo.

    Interesting how the big in-your-face climate-related events over the last week, namely the Antarctic expeditionary ice-block, Australian 2013 heat records and the Canada/USA freeze have brought out “it’s just all fits in CAGW climate change predictions – we told you” responses.

    If the forthcoming cyclone season in the Australian region delivers either next to nil or a series of major cyclones, the CAGW set blithely believe that they can link any such varied outcome to climate change.

    As a contingency for times when no climate/weather major events are grabbing headlines, hardline CAGW believers will surely be preparing a man-made greenhouse gas linkage as a cause of any passing earthquakes or volcanic eruptions to ensure that pressure on western world guilt levels is not eased.

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      Roy Hogue

      Liars and ideologues can always find a way to make their case. Once the truth becomes optional anything goes. And the beauty of it is that weather is always going to dish up something people don’t like and may even be hurt by, so there’s an endless progression of events they can squeeze into their desired narrative.

      They deserve nothing any more than they deserve to be completely ignored. Unfortunately they get the attention because bad news is news and good news is not, even when it’s phony bad news.

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    Retired now

    I’m not sure who I was listening to on the radio but I’ve caught two AGW warmists waxing very firmly about how last year had record temperatures (though certainly not here in Perth, it was quite mild compared to some summers) and one of them said firmly that global warming was the cause of both the ice in the Antarctic and the cause of the polar vortex cold in the US. The radio announcer lapped it up. I switched stations.

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    Ronald

    I was thinking about the same.
    Global warming is how stupid it rely is understandable. Yes its wrong but the explanation used cane someone get to thing it wright.
    Now its climate change you soon must wonder how stupid humans are.

    There will be no ice on the pools due to global warming cane be totally true. Oke we not at this point yet but it could be.
    There will be more and heavier storms, the explanation is plausible still wrong but plausible.
    Drought, the same thing wrong but plausible.

    Now that its call t climate change they go bananas and thing that every body not being a climate scientist is stupid. Some even like to do a sort off Holocaust thing to get the deniers out of the way.

    Now we hear that the poles are melting but also more ice is coming from the warming.
    There is less snow but also more snow.

    Then someone came whit the idea of making ice from warm t. Yes by the AGW people it is that warming makes ice.
    So I wonder how that works. I now that a fridge works that way sort of so lets say we cane only use ways that nature cane do. That being said I now it will be hard to compress air and warm it the same time but oke so be it.

    I now its against all physical laws but thats in fact all the AGW non sens.

    I started whit en oven and water, warm air makes more ice so I turn t on the air blower and put a basket of ice in the oven at 50 degrees. The ice melted gee who would thing that. So then I used cold water. Yes no ice. Maybe I must have an box off ice next to the oven? No result. Hot water? Boiling water? What I did no ice.

    Now an hairdryer, that makes hot air. So one box ice one box water lets look. The dryer blows warm air over the ice on to the water. No ice forming.

    Is there someone who cane help? Is there someone who cane make a sort of pressure box? Maybe that will work?

    Ow yes I am being sarcastic.

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    handjive

    Here is a lecture by Chris Essex about problems in climate modelling.

    “Believing Six Impossible Things before Breakfast, and Climate Models”

    Comments – P Gosselin (notrickszone) 26. Dezember 2013 at 20:34 – Good video worth the watch!

    Note- The greenhouse effect explained at 13.50 minutes.
    . . .
    Score One for Ms. Jonova (again):

    IPCC-Fail: Tropical ‘Hotspot’ Refuted By Latest Empirical Evidence – Experts Wrong, Again
    The simple, indisputable, scientific summary after 35 years of empirical evidence:
    The tropical, runaway hotspot did not happen in spite of massive amounts of CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere; ergo, the IPCC was wrong, again; the billion-dollar climate model predictions were wrong, again; alarmist, agenda-driven scientists’ claims of climate doomsday were wrong, again; and, the fanatical anti-CO2 green lobby was wrong, as always.

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    Neville

    Here is an historic interview by Michael Smith of Bob Kernohan, former president of the AWU in Vic.
    All the scum in this union particularly Bruce Wilson and his then girlfriend Julia Gillard feature as well as Bill Shorten. Everyone tried to cover up all the fraud and corruption and nearly got away with it.
    Shortly afterwards Kernohan was bashed by union thugs because he was trying to expose all the fraud,blackmail and corruption within the union. What gutsy people Kernohan, Smith and Blewitt are and we all owe them a lot. They remind me of Kathy Jackson of the Health Services Union who had to suffer Shorten’s abuse as well.

    http://www.2gb.com/audioplayer/27741

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    Sonny

    All in all an embarrassing couple of weeks for the climate change snip-heads.

    I have to admire their inventiveness though. Polar vortexes, remobilized sea ice, transitory upwelling…

    Notice how as the deck of cards collapses they resort to more and more hyperbolae and verbose technical nonsense language to try to bamboozle the public.

    Turney, next time you go on a serious scientific voyage on the tax payers behalf, for gods sake, leave your snipping children’s behind.

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    Rick Bradford

    Dellers’ analysis of the Ship of Fools highly recommended

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      Sonny

      Brilliant article although it would be completely over the head of anybody who hasn’t spent the past 3-4 years heavily invested in exposing the corruption of supposed “climate science” aka “propoganda to actualise Agenda 21 and other wet dreams of unscrupulous men and women”

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      handjive

      The brilliant Mark Steyn has it wrapped up.
      (Full disclosure: I’m currently being sued by Dr Michael Mann, creator of the most famously alarming graph, the ‘hockey stick’)

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        Andrew McRae

        Yep, Steyn’s a master of the barb.

        In the comments Mr Honeycutt should be careful what he wishes for…

        BazzaMcKenzie:
        Rob, exactly what would “cast doubt” on your theory about ” radiative forcing from CO2 on the overall climate system”? Or is the answer, nothing?

        Rob Honeycutt:
        A statistically significant cooling trend.

        Even if the IPCC are correct about ECS being 2 degrees per CO2 doubling, we’re still about to have 16 years of cooling at -0.05 degrees per decade, and it will cool quicker if they are wrong.

        Presumably the tactic by 2025 will be to redefine “statistically significant” so that two decades of cooling doesn’t count.

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          ianl8888

          Presumably the tactic by 2025 will be to redefine “statistically significant” so that two decades of cooling doesn’t count

          Already happening. Four decades are now the firmly planted goalposts

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    Paul Vaughan

    .
    On the last page of a new article I put forth a (very specific) challenge to climate modelers.

    [PDF] Sun-Climate 101: Solar-Terrestrial Primer [PDF]

    Sun-Climate 101 outlines law-constrained geometric foundations of solar-governed “internal” (a counterproductive misnomer) spatiotemporal redistribution (stirring) of terrestrial heat & water at a fixed, constant level of multidecadal solar activity.
    .
    Those with sufficiently deep understanding will recognize this as a 4-dimensional geometric proof.
    .
    See particularly item #5 on page 3. The lesson: There’s stirring & accumulation even with a fixed, constant level of multidecadal solar activity due to the shifts & persistence of terrestrial circulation that are an inevitable consequence of solar frequency shift.
    .
    It’s trivial and it’s geometrically proven.
    .
    The attractor (central limit) would be the same whether scrambled by white noise, spatiotemporal chaos, &/or lunisolar oscillations (the latter of which stand out clearly in observations).
    .
    The utility of these fundamentals extends beyond generalizing the role of stellar frequency in planetary aggregate-circulation to assessing the vision, competence, functional numeracy, honesty, & relevance of climate discussion agents, including those abusing authority.

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    Roy Hogue

    If you live in the U.S. (or are just interested) look for the new book by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The title is, Duty. It isn’t out yet so only reviewers have copies.

    From what I have heard of it it’s going to start the fan slinging stuff at numerous denizens of DC. I also have to say it seems pretty even handed and isn’t simply a hatchet job. I recommend it, sight unseen, solely because of the reviews I’ve already seen and heard.

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      Rereke Whakaaro

      Thanks for the tip, Roy.

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      Bones

      G’day Roy,Fox news U.S.talked about this book yesterdayon OZ tv.It seems like it may create a few Sandy size waves.You can only hope.Keep the blankets up,it might get even chillier

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    Jaymez

    Individual BOM City Temperature Records Don’t Support BOM’s Constantly Warming Story.
    When you look at individual long dated records from around Australia, which are not ‘adjusted’ to fit a politicised BOM data set you don’t get a picture of every location gradually getting warmer. Yes in general it is warmer now than it was in the mid 1800’s in anywhere you care to look at in the records. After all that is what you would expect as the earth recovers from the Little Ice Age. But locations are not warming in even correlation with CO2 emissions as the BOM would like us to believe. There is a great deal of variability because our climate is primarily driven by other natural and cyclical factors. Otherwise we would have seen a steady rise in temperatures as implied by BOM’s Manager of Climate Monitoring and Predictions, David Jones.

    Perth BOM Records Don’t Show the Claimed Gradual Warming
    Take for instance Perth Metro Temperature extremes as published by BOM with the record commencing in 1897 here. The hottest daily maximum temperature recorded wasn’t in 2013 or even close, it was on 23 February 1991 at 46.2C. The hottest January day was also in 1991 on 31st. It was in 2007 that the hottest ever days were recorded in both March and December at 42.4C and 44.2C respectively. 2002 saw the hottest May day on record, 1975 and 1976 the hottest day in June and July respectively. It was way back in October 1967 when the hottest October day in Perth was experienced and 1940 for the hottest day ever in August. 1918 saw Perth experience its warmest September day on record, 1913 the hottest November day and 1910 the hottest day ever in April. This long dated capital city record doesn’t give you any sense of a consistently warming world where all the record temperatures are in the more recent years, does it?

    Ok so you might say that individual temperature records from a single day are irrelevant, and I would agree. Though you wouldn’t think so when you hear BOM and the media constantly report a new daily hot record from somewhere in Australia – and there will always be new records somewhere – especially if you have a lot of new temperature gauges! But when we look at the maximum monthly mean temperature records we find the same thing. They are not clustered in recent years, in fact far from it.

    The maximum record mean temperature for the month of January in Perth since 1897 was in 1962, February was 1985, March 2011, April was equal in 1978 and 1999, May was in 2009, June in 1982, July equal in 1976 and 1977, August way back in 1902, September in 1987, October in 1969, November in 2010 and December in 1931. That hardly reflects a trend where the mean monthly temperatures are getting warmer and warmer.

    The record annual highest mean maximum temperature was back in 2011/12, but the highest mean minimum temperature was in 1988. So those who are arguing that minimum temperatures are getting progressively warmer don’t have the data to support that story either. Remember, this is BOM data, not mine.

    Sydney Record Temperatures have a Similar Distribution
    The Sydney temperature record at Observatory Hill goes back to 1858 and you can see it here from BOM. A similar picture emerges for Sydney record maximum temperatures as for Perth. It is true that 18 January 2013 recorded the hottest day ever at 45.8C, but you have to go all the way back to 13 October 2004 before you get the next daily mean maximum temperature record for an individual month. The other month’s daily records were achieved in the following years; February 1926, March 1983, April 1986, May 1919, June 1931, July 1990, August 1995, September 1965, November 1982 and December 1957. There is definitely no gradual warming pattern there which follows the increasing human CO2 emissions.

    Looking at lowest maximum temperatures and highest minimum temperatures yields a similar variability at the Sydney station thus not supporting a theory that lower temperatures are slowly and consistently increasing in line with anthropogenic greenhouse emissions either.

    Why the Disparity between Facts and BOM Publicity?
    Many people have absolute faith in the BOM simply because they can’t imagine why one person, much less a whole group of people might want to deliberately mislead the Australian public.

    History is of course dotted with many instances where major ‘group- thinking’ was adhered to by many learned people for very long periods of time and yet they turned out to be incorrect.

    A well-known instance close to home was medical science’s insistence that ulcers were caused by stress and could not possibly be caused by bacteria because ‘everyone’ knew that bacteria could not possibly survive in the stomach’s acids. Anyone who questioned this medical consensus was considered a quack. Yet in 1983 Barry Marshall and Robin Warren showed that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the cause of most peptic ulcers, reversing decades of medical doctrine holding that ulcers were caused by stress, spicy foods, and too much acid. They were awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology for their efforts.

    Unfortunately there is ample evidence that BOM is part of a worldwide movement in Climate Science which is absolutely wedded to the idea that any global warming is primarily caused by human greenhouse gas emissions. They believe that the Climate is extremely sensitive to atmospheric CO2 even though it makes up less than 0.04% of the atmosphere and correlates poorly to global average temperatures. Climate models based on this theory have failed to predict the stasis in global average temperature since 1998.

    As evidence of this extremism we need only look at one of the emails which was leaked as part of the ‘Climate Gate’ emails from East Anglia University’s Climatic Research Unit’s Hadley Centre. Head of the Hadley Centre was Dr Phil Jones who at the time was one of the world’s best known Climate Scientists and was charged with providing the UK Met Office and the UN IPCC with global temperature data.

    The email is from the same David Jones from BOM announcing Australia had its hottest year ever in 2013. He is Head of Climate Monitoring and Prediction Services at Australian Bureau of Meteorology: Dr David Jones has a PhD in Meteorology/Climate, A BSc majoring in meteorology, chemistry and mathematics, and a Graduate Diploma in Forecasting.

    0601.txt
    cc: “Shoni Dawkins”
    date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 08:28:03 +100 ???
    from: “David Jones”
    subject: RE: African stations used in HadCRU global data set
    to: “Phil Jones”

    Thanks Phil for the input and paper. I will get back to you with comments next week.
    Fortunately in Australia our sceptics are rather scientifically incompetent. It is also easier for us in that we have a policy of providing any complainer with every single station observation when they question our data (this usually snows them) and the Australian data is in pretty good order anyway.

    Truth be know,[sic] climate change here is now running so rampant that we don’t need meteorological data to see it. Almost everyone [sic] of our cities is on the verge of running out of water and our largest irrigation system (the Murray Darling Basin is on the verge of collapse – across NSW farmer have received a 0% allocation of water for the coming summer and in Victoria they currently have 5% allocations – numbers that will just about see the death of our fruit, citrus, vine and dairy industries if we don’t get good spring rain).

    The odd things is that even when we see average rainfall our runoffs are far below average, which seems to be a direct result of warmer temperatures.

    Recent polls show that Australians now rate climate change as a greater threat than world terrorism.

    Regards,
    David

    (My Bolding)

    Jones was so sure that the weather in Australia was evidence of a man-made climate change he claimed he didn’t even need the meteorological data to confirm it!

    We now know of course that the drought broke, and the Murray Darling is now the healthiest it has been for decades. In total conflict to the now top Australian CLIMATE MONITOR AND PREDICTOR’s predictions!

    As for David Jones predicting that our cities were running out of water. Well you can check at the website here and see that apart from Perth, all cities water supplies are extremely healthy. Unfortunately because of the predictions from BOM and the likes of Tim Flannery, the Australian people have been left with about $12Bn in mothballed desalination plants which are costing millions of dollars a month to NOT produce water.

    So you can see that the predictions made by BOM have very serious economic impacts and you can also see that key personnel holding senior positions within BOM have been shown to be less than objective in the past. They are protecting a professional stance they have been stuck in for decades and they are not likely to change it.

    It is therefore reasonable to question their objectivity when they make announcements like BOM’s David Jones did on January 3rd, which I have shown to be untrue: “We know every place across Australia is getting hotter, and very similarly almost every place on this planet. So, you know, we know it is getting hotter and we know it will continue to get hotter.”

    Unfortunately it seems just too easy for BOM to support their own CAGW beliefs by the way they have adjusted the temperature data. This is shown very graphically here. In the example given it shows the original raw data for Alice Springs with little to no warming trend over the entire history of the station. After a couple of goes at ‘adjusting’ the data BOM managed to create the desired ‘hockey stick’ by magically cooling the years before 1980. The Alice Springs temperature record is crucial in the whole Australian average temperature record because through averaging it comprises about 10% of the surface area of Australia.

    Until we spend a modest sum on an independent audit of BOM’s data series and ‘adjustment’ processes as requested in the submission made to the Attorney General in 2011 by Jo Nova and her team. We should spend no money reacting to BOM’s outrageous predictions of climate calamity.

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    Reed Coray

    Jo,
    I hope everything is well with you and yours; and unlike the 17-year hiatus from global warming, your return to blogging is imminent.

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    “an X1-class explosion in the sunspot’s magnetic canopy hurled a CME in our direction.”
    http://www.spaceweather.com/
    I wonder if this one will have an obvious effect on sea ice extent. It could go on for a long time.

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    pat

    speaking of Steffen –

    8 Jan: Guardian: Lenore Taylor with Daniel Hirst: Renewable energy target faces delay amid calls for Abbott to scrap policy
    PM’s top business adviser demands inquiry into claims that wind turbines are operating in violation of compliance requirements
    The environment minister, Greg Hunt, has canvassed compromise options with industry including changing the existing target that 20% of energy come from renewable sources by 2020, to one requiring 25% from renewable sources by 2025…
    The Coalition is also moving to implement its election promise to hold another review into the alleged health impact of turbines from the National Health and Medical Research Council, which three years ago found that they posed no health risks, but advocated ongoing studies.
    Professor Will Steffen from the Climate Council said on Wednesday his organisation was planning to compile a report on the health impacts of a range of energy systems, including wind and solar and coal, oil and gas.
    Steffen said Denmark had imposed a 1km buffer between residences and wind generators. “They’ve had the longest history of any country I know of with modern wind generators and ***I don’t think they’ve seen any health problems with the precautions and buffer zones that they’ve instituted.”
    He argued that allowing the climate to become increasingly destabilised posed a greater risk than wind farms, saying extreme heat caused “far more severe health risks … on our body, on our physiology, on our work productivity, on eco-systems, on infrastructure”…
    The renewable energy target requires 45,000 gigawatt hours of renewable energy by 2020. Due to falling electricity demand, that amount will represent well over 20% by 2020, adding to calls that the target date be pushed out or the target reduced.
    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/08/renewable-energy-target-faces-delay

    presumably the “Hirst” who contributed to Taylor’s piece is ex-interchangeable-Fairfax-now Guardian reporter, Daniel Hurst, with a “u”:
    http://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniel-hurst

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    edwina

    Often, the emmissions of methane via large herds of cattle and sheep are blamed for climate change. Methane is said to be a greater greenhouse gas than CO2. But before 1850 I would have thought more methane came from natural herds. That is, herds owned by farmers around the world, huge numbers of many varieties of animal herds in South Africa and Buffalo in N. America. I read where Buffalo herds were so large it took even days for a herd to rumble by one point. Over long periods these herds ‘fertilised’the Mid West which became the food bowl of N. America. So why do Warmists ignore these facts?

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      Popeye

      Edwina,

      Yes – methane is a much morre potent “warming” gas than CO2.

      There are many and varied estimations of the numbers of buffalo (bison) in North America but see quote below from this site. National Humanities Center

      “Estimates of numbers range widely. Some thought (clearly in error) that there were hundreds of millions of even billions; others estimated (far more reasonably) numbers at from 30 to 1000 million in A.D. 1500. Ernest Thompson Seton, the naturalist, was the first to estimate population on the basis of what was called “range allowance” (or carrying capacity) and settled on at least 60 million. Since his day the tendency has been to lower the estimates because bison were unevenly distributed over their range and because drought periodically struck the Plains. According to Dan Flores, an historian, no more than 30 million bison roamed the Plains prior to the arrival of the horse.”

      Note lowest estimate that I could find in my bold.

      That number would generate a A WHOLE LOT OF METHANE and manure – whew! 🙂

      Cheers

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    Safetyguy66

    Just to drive home my points in the last thread about the nonsensical and corrupt nature of the recent Left/Green alliances.

    http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2014/1/9/politics/alp-greens-end-tas-deal

    Labour is finally waking up (at least in Tassie). Yes aligning yourself wityh a bunch of fringe dwelling ratbags with a hatred of humanity and no regard for common sense might win you an election. But it will cost you 4 more.

    Left and Green have NOTHING in common. At the best estimate these nitwits make up 9% of the voting population. So we should really be hearing from them about 9% of the time. In which case Milne/Hanson Young have already used her 2014 allocation of media time bleating about asylum seekers. Now ST#U and let the adults get on with running the country.

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      Bones

      You’re dreamin’ buddy,these two can talk under water with a mouthful of marbles.Not what I would like to say but this is allowed.

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    pat

    SafetyGuy66 –

    u beat me to it. here’s the same story on abc & check who is chosen to talk about it!

    9 Jan: ABC: Tasmanian Labor ends Greens alliance
    The Australian is reporting that Labor in Tasmania is ending its power sharing arrangement with the Greens.
    The move reportedly comes as the party attempts to rebuild support among its traditional blue-collar base.
    Other power-sharing deals between Labor and the Greens in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia have also ended
    Associate Professor Kate Crowley from the University of Tasmania joins Summer Breakfast to discuss the fracturing relationship.
    http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/tasmanian-labor-ends-greens-alliance/5191652

    LinkedIn: Kate Crowley
    2009-11 (Inaugural) Chair, Tasmanian Climate Action Council
    2007-11 Advisor to the Premier of Tasmania/Climate Change Minister
    http://au.linkedin.com/pub/kate-crowley/22/b64/826

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    pat

    the CAGW propaganda on our media is relentless. i can’t think of any MSM anywhere else in the world, still pushing this stuff day & night:

    Reece Halter says: make no mistake it (extreme weather) is caused by global warming; in science we deal with fact, etc.

    seems it’s jonathan green interviewing him:

    8 Jan: ABC Breakfast: Could extreme weather be the new global norm?
    Guest: Biologist Dr Reece Halter
    http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/could-extreme-weather-be-the-new-global-norm/5189944

    ABC seems to be Halter’s main MSM home! i can well imagine him on “New Dimensions”:

    29 Dec: ABC Ockhams Razor: Robyn Williams: The war against nature
    Dr Reese Halter, also known as the Earth Doctor, is an award-winning broadcaster, a conservation biologist, educator and author based in California…
    What has happened to earthlings? Humans are so unconscious and detached from the natural world that the media headlines now report one heinous act against nature after the next attempting to best one another in brutality and illegal sales of animal parts…
    We are knowingly leaving our children impoverished oceans, and as Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society rightfully says: ‘If the whales die, we die!’
    Humans cannot live without Nature. Nature, on the other hand, can totally exist without us. It’s time to end ‘The War Against Nature’ now — And protect the remaining great whales, dolphins, rhinos, elephants, big cats, polar bears, grizzly bears, gorillas, bluefin tunas, sharks, sea turtles and my favorite the albatross from despicable poachers.
    Robyn Williams: An angry Dr Reese Halter in L.A. A stern thought for the end of 2013.
    http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/the-war-against-nature/5152728

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    pat

    Steffen again and again and again:

    9 Jan: Coffs Coast Advocate: Climate Change Commission: report shows QLD is warming
    ???Many of these findings would be little surprise to much of Queensland which experienced horrifying drought conditions and high temperatures throughout the year…
    Report author Professor Will Steffen said all weather was now inside an environment with more heat than 50 years ago.
    “This is loading the dice towards more record hot weather, in Australia and around the world,” he said.
    “Although more record hot weather is virtually certain for the next few decades, even higher risks of heat for the second half of the century can be averted by slowing climate change and then stabilising the climate system.
    “This requires urgent, persistent and deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades, here in Australia and around the world.”
    http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/climate-change-commission-report-shows-qld-warming/2134205/

    9 Jan: Business Spectator: 2014 may be even hotter
    However, The AFR says, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology is not expecting El Nino to return in 2014 but that the certainty around the debate will become clearer by autumn.
    Climate councillor Will Steffen said record hot years were, on average, only expected once every “100 years or so”, but that Australia had seen record years in 1998, 2005 and last year.
    http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2014/1/9/science-environment/2014-may-be-even-hotter

    i can’t get this one to open properly, but this is at least one bit of Steffen from the article that showed up in search results:

    9 Jan: West Australian: Perth set for scorching 43C Saturday, Pilbara to wn of Onslow forecast to reach over 50C
    “The year was remarkable for the large number of heat-related records that were set,” said Climate Councillor Professor Will Steffen…
    http://www.news.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-set-for-scorching-43c-saturday-pilbara-town-of-onslow-forecast-to-reach-over-50c/story-fnii5thn-1226797177125

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    pat

    WUWT: The White House gets into the ‘polar vortex’ climate change blame business
    Watch John Holdren struggle to explain the “waviness” of the circumpolar vortex aka the ‘polar vortex’ in today’s news cycle. Also, he says:
    “If you’ve been hearing that extreme cold spells like the one we’re having in the United States now disprove global warming, don’t believe it,”…
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/08/the-white-house-gets-into-the-polar-vortex-climate-change-blame-business/#more-100802

    Delingpole: Global Warming devastates America
    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100253377/global-warming-devastates-america/

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    pat

    out-of-date because the writer still thinks the Polar Star is off to rescue the Shokalskiy & Xue Long. seems he wrote it earlier than the date published. however, very interesting detail:

    9 Jan: Australian: Anthony Bergin: Saga of Shokalskiy breaks ice on much-needed polar conversation
    (Anthony Bergin is deputy director, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and honorary fellow, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre)
    It’s interesting that the voyage isn’t part of the official Australian Antarctic Science Program, and was taking paying passengers. The cruise is badged by its operators as the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, appropriating the name of the Australasian scientific team that explored part of the cold continent between 1911 and 1914, led by Douglas Mawson. It’s a bit like stealing the term Anzac for a tourist visit to Gallipoli…
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/saga-of-shokalskiy-breaks-ice-on-muchneeded-polar-conversation/story-e6frgd0x-1226797645337#

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    Jud

    Folks,

    Another great show from Rob Snow today on his Ottawa open line radio show.
    His analysis of the farce that is the Green Energy Act in Ontario is a must listen for anyone interested in this topic.
    I have seen your future and it is Ontario.

    Some of the topics today…

    This one is scandalous.
    To clear the way for a wind farm development the Ministry of Natural Resources approved (in three days) the destruction of the nest of a pair of mating Bald Eagles!
    The tree was cut down on New Years eve to avoid appeals or protests.
    Simcoe Refromer article here…
    http://www.simcoereformer.ca/2013/01/07/outrage-in-haldimand-over-bald-eagle-nest-removal

    Rural Ontario clubs and organizations are going to the wall with electricity bill raises.
    One curling club’s bills have gone up over $1000 per month year over year.
    Article by Kelly Egan in the Ottawa Citizen here…
    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Kelly+Egan+Hydro+draining+rural+institutions/9360604/story.html

    Much more in the Podcast here…
    http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/181/18726/Afternoon.Edition_140108.mp3

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    Andrew McRae

    Well here’s a fine thing:
    Big W joins Aldi in ditching ‘racist’ T-shirts

    It’s apparently “racist” because it says “Australia Est. 1788”.

    That’s geologically incorrect because the continent separated from Antarctica in the Jurassic, and it’s historically incorrect certainly because Australia as a single nation was formed in 1901, but… racist?? You’ve gotta be kidding me.

    Is that because 1788 represents the landing of the First Fleet and the beginning of driving Aborigines off their traditional land? Well it also represents the early beginnings of Australia if not its actual federation. The aborigines were a disparate bunch of tribes who had far-reaching communications abilities, only infrequent trading, and never had any concept of a common federated government of the whole continent. They apparently could not even conceive of such large scale ownership because their dreamtime stories related only to the particular land where they lived, anywhere else was just alien. Therefore the European governance system that was to become Australia had no competing Aboriginal entity representing the whole country, only individual tribal areas. To say that “Australia” had its earliest beginnings in 1788 is not far wrong. This does not minimise or deny the fact that European settlers sporadically killed some Aborigines intentionally mainly in retaliation over the next 80 years, because this t-shirt doesn’t say anything about that. It does not say that dispossession did not occur. It simply says Australia was established in 1788. It’s not making any assumptions about Australia being founded in a perfectly harmonious egalitarian manner. It’s not discriminating against Aborigines. It’s not pretending that horrible historic events didn’t occur. When the word “Australia” is correctly interpreted the t-shirt’s date is historically incorrect but it is not racist.

    What is the logic here? That if you don’t reprint a Manne essay on a kitsch t-shirt for patriots then you’re racist? That Big W is responsible for the choices of its customers? That big capitalist retail chains can be successfully cowed with hollow hot-button rhetoric?

    This is race baiting, isn’t it? Why does all the stupid stuff that happens in the USA have to happen here too? Is that a rule or something?
    I guess self-hating postmodernist authoritarians are everywhere.

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      Bones

      How is this any more racist than the fact that we have Australia Day.Putting a date on it would not seem to make any difference.Still some little person full of their own importance and a legend in their own lunch time got to see their name in the paper,please send all complaints to Juliar.

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        edwina

        Even if we got rid of 1788 as the year for the foundation of Australia what would be an alternate year suitable to the first Australians? I have, over time, heard or read expert approximations when they arrived. Some say 20 000 years ago, 30 000, 60 000 and even 100 000 years ago. If there is no agreement to the nearest 10 000 it makes it hard to have any knind of ‘day’ to celebrate our beginning.

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      redress

      The hypocrisy of the social media fanatics needs to be exposed and hit hard.

      For the life of me I cant see the difference [apart from the design] in the sentiments of the two shirts.
      Put them side by side and tell me what Aldi has done wrong and AustralianChoice.com.au has done right……..

      I do not think that any Australian Choice support for the Ngurra Jirrama Foundation protects them, if anything,it makes their shirt worse.

      Aldi makes no pretense about double standards…the money was going to Aldi…not an Australian business……a German owned multi national…..

      Australian choice on the other hand still is selling what the politically correct brand as a “racist” and “inflammatory” T Shirt, because

      1]. the retail store is located in the Canberra Centre.
      2] the product is Australian made
      3]. its a family owned small business with turnover in excess of $1.3 million
      4]. the company supports Australian values: honest, reliable & enjoyable
      5]. Australian Choice supports the Ngurra Jirrama Foundation, a Trust which has been registered with the Australian Tax Office as a Charitable Fund with Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status. Our ABN is: 19 824 557 371

      The Ngurra Jirrama Foundation vision is to see young Indigenous Australians from remote areas living a rewarding life full of options as a result of a successful education.

      SEE THE DIFFERENCE……greedy multi national vs honest Australian, charitable business.

      COMPARE THE SHIRTS:

      http://australianchoice.com.au/gifts-pic.asp?p=858

      22014
      Adult Tshirt – Australia Established 1788…$29.00 …….YES, that is the exact wording on the shirt.

      Aldi’s shirt….Australia EST 1788…bet they were not $29.00.

      Aldi should stand and fight this sheer nonsense from the social media……that is what is going on here.

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        Andrew McRae

        That link doesn’t work any more, maybe they have withdrawn it?
        This shirt with similar text is still on display: http://australianchoice.com.au/gifts-pic.asp?p=1388
        They have added a disclaimer instead of withdrawing it! good on `em.

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        Rereke Whakaaro

        Not my battle, but I do have some information that may be interesting, if not useful.

        A guy I used to work with, several years ago, had an aunt who had lived in seven countries during her lifetime. And yet, she had never moved away from her village.

        The village where she lived, is currently in South Western Poland, and is called “Kopaczow”. It is two kilometers from the German border, as the stork flies. The actual border between Poland and the Czech Republic currently runs through the village. The Czech part is called, “Oldrichov na Hranicich”.

        The name is not the place. A national border does not define the place, only its current name. A flag does not define the place. A place just is. Something happened in 1788, at a place. That is what the tee-shirt commemorates.

        I hope that helps.

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          Heywood

          “Something happened in 1788, at a place. That is what the tee-shirt commemorates.”

          My thoughts exactly Rereke.

          The T-shirt was produced with the intention of wearing on Australia Day, which is celebrated 26 January, which is the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet Funnily enough, it occurred in 1788.

          Shame that leftard whinging activists have thrust their own politically correct attitudes on the majority and Aldi and Big W have caved.

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          gee Aye

          by your reckoning the t-shirt should say what happened, as the tshirt in question clearly does not. Something like, “The crew of the Endeavour first saw the east coast of the landmass now called Australia”. This says nothing about the following years or about nationhood or indigenous people, it just states a fact (although it needs to be more brief to fit on a tshirt). I’d agree with that.

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            Rereke Whakaaro

            Why don’t you call it, “The Arrival of the First Boat People”? That would be accurate about he past, and topical regarding the present.

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        gee Aye

        what are Australian values?

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    Ian Wilson

    My paper has been published in the journal: Pattern Recognition in Physics:

    Wilson, I.R.G.: The Venus–Earth–Jupiter spin–orbit coupling
    model, Pattern Recogn. Phys., 1, 147-158

    http://www.pattern-recogn-phys.net/1/147/2013/prp-1-147-2013.html

    These results are supported by:

    J.-E. Solheim J. -E.: The sunspot cycle length – modulated by planets?
    Pattern Recogn. Phys., 1, 159–164, 2013

    http://www.pattern-recogn-phys.net/1/159/2013/prp-1-159-2013.pdf

    and

    Salvador R.J.: A mathematical model of the sunspot cycle
    for the past 1000 yr Pattern Recogn. Phys., 1, 117–122, 2013

    http://www.pattern-recogn-phys.net/1/117/2013/prp-1-117-2013.pdf

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    Can one of you Aussies here please tell me why I can no longer access the Andrew Bolt Blog from the USA? It just suddenly stopped with no warning on Jan 4. Is Bolta ill? Is he in a squabble with News, LTD? What has happened?

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      william2

      Andrew Bolt is having his end of year holidays.Not sure if his blog will resume on 13th January or if he will have another week.

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    Vic G Gallus

    I came across this interview with Michael Mann and could only listen to a few minutes.

    He was replying to a sceptic’s comments whom the interviewer referred to as not being a climate denier but diminisher. Mann referred to the sceptic’s claims as ‘absolutely gregariously false assertions’ and that he presented arguments like a creationist. I wonder what he would have flung at him if he thought it was all BS.

    ‘One of the tactics used by creationist in debates that’s used by climate change deniers is to throw so many of these so called facts out there that the person you are debating with has no time to respond ..’ he says before the interviewer interjects, completely lacking the self awareness that he was flinging out assertions with no evidence at a frantic pace. For example: “This claim we have seen no increase in tornadoes is simply wrong. This claim was made by another climate change critic in an op-ed in the New York Times a few weeks ago and a group of all the leading tornado specialists in the US responded with a letter saying that what he had claimed was completely wrong”

    Who were they? The NOAA? I’m sure that this shows that the previous year had well below the average 1300 tornadoes recorded in the US per year and even well below 75% of the previous years that were recorded.

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