EDITORIAL: Biased reporting on Climategate

EDITORIAL: Biased reporting on Climategate - Washington Times: "There's a big difference between saying that there isn't sufficient evidence to determine if falsification of data occurred - and that there should be an investigation - and saying, as AP did: 'Science not faked.'"

John Mackey and Whole Foods

John Mackey and Whole Foods : The New Yorker: "A year ago, Mackey came across a book called “The Engine 2 Diet,” by an Austin, Texas, firefighter and former professional triathlete named Rip Esselstyn. Basically, you eat plants: you are a rabbit with a skillet. Mackey had been a vegetarian for more than thirty years, and a vegan for five, but the Engine 2 book, among others, helped get him to give up vegetable oils, sugar, and pretty much anything processed. He lost fifteen pounds."

Awkward Timing for a Book by Woods

Awkward Timing for a Book by Woods - NYTimes.com: "In the audio book, Mr. Woods shares the “psychological practices he uses daily to keep his game in top shape and help him transcend all the ups and downs of golf,” according to a description in Hachette Audio’s spring-summer 2010 catalog, which was mailed recently to bookstores and journalists."

The Canucks in Canuckville

small dead animals: The Canucks In Canuckville: "We’ll make them join unions; we’ll meddle with wages,
We’ll subsidize books with Canadian pages
We’ll give them a Charter with rights no one knows,
With rulings from judges that no voter chose."

Conservatism Is Dead

Conservatism Is Dead | The New Republic: "Today, the situation is much bleaker. After George W. Bush's two terms, conservatives must reckon with the consequences of a presidency that failed, in large part, because of its fervent commitment to movement ideology: the aggressively unilateralist foreign policy; the blind faith in a deregulated, Wall Street-centric market; the harshly punitive 'culture war' waged against liberal 'elites.' That these precepts should have found their final, hapless defender in John McCain, who had resisted them for most of his long career, only confirms that movement doctrine retains an inflexible and suffocating grip on the GOP."

American's Crazed Corn Habit

American's Crazed Corn Habit - Justin Rohrlich - Mises Institute: "According to a recent Congressional Budget Office report, the increased use of ethanol is responsible for a rise in food prices of approximately 10 to 15 percent.

Why?

We're turning corn into fuel — a highly inefficient one, at that — instead of food."

B.C. only province with rising greenhouse gases

CBC News - British Columbia - B.C. only province with rising greenhouse gases

U.S. cap and trade looks out of reach in 2010

U.S. cap and trade looks out of reach in 2010 | Green Tech - CNET News: "But the Copenhagen Accord did not include emissions targets. This will make it difficult for lawmakers to argue that the United States should have a cap while China, the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases, and other big polluters are not legally required to act on climate."

Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri

Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri - Telegraph: "Although Dr Pachauri is often presented as a scientist (he was even once described by the BBC as “the world’s top climate scientist”), as a former railway engineer with a PhD in economics he has no qualifications in climate science at all."

The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S.

San Francisco News - The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S. - page 1: "Despite its good intentions, San Francisco is not leading the country in gay marriage. Despite its good intentions, it is not stopping wars. Despite its spending more money per capita on homelessness than any comparable city, its homeless problem is worse than any comparable city's."

Green shoppers more likely to cheat

Green shoppers more likely to cheat: "If buying an organic apple instead of one caked in pesticides eases your conscience, there's a good chance that your next ethical decision might not be a good one.

According to the results of a University of Toronto study, participants who assigned more social value to 'green' shopping were more likely to cheat and steal in subsequent tests than those with less stringent shopping habits.

The study, to be published in the new year in the journal Psychological Science, is the latest in a growing field of research called 'moral licensing.'"

“We Don’t Know” is better than “Global Warming” “Global Cooling” or “They are Wrong”

“We Don’t Know” is better than “Global Warming” “Global Cooling” or “They are Wrong” - Symon Sez: "“Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects.”"

For your information…

For your information…: "That being said Ted..."

Comments in regards to how I see climate science right now.

Observations: Draft text of new "Copenhagen Accord"

Observations: Draft text of new "Copenhagen Accord": "12. We call for a review of this Accord and its implementation to be completed by 2016, including in light of the Convention’s ultimate objective. This review would include consideration of strengthening the long-tenn(sic) goal to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 degrees."

Orchestra says no to being mimed at Games

Orchestra says no to being mimed at Games: "The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra refused an invitation to record music for the Vancouver 2010 opening ceremonies because the organizing committee, Vanoc, wanted other musicians to 'mime' the live performance."

Very dumb indeed.

Michael E. Mann - E-mail furor doesn't alter evidence for climate change

Michael E. Mann - E-mail furor doesn't alter evidence for climate change - washingtonpost.com

What Dr. Mann doesn't understand is that it's not the furor which changes things but the emails themselves. Funny how Sarah Palin's OpEd is his best defense.

When the mobs rule

When the mobs rule: "If the red greens were marching in support of the program, or making orderly objections on details, or if there was chaos in the streets because the conference had been cancelled, it would make some kind of sense. But rioting in their moment of triumph raises the crucial question: 'Why can't these people make their case without breaking the law?'"

A page out of Harper’s playbook

A page out of Harper’s playbook - Paul Wells - Macleans.ca: "Very little that has happened since could have been predicted. By autumn, Harper was, briefly, a sort of media darling, popping up on the stage of the National Arts Centre to serenade the audience while his Conservatives flirted with levels of public support that would, if sustained, ensure them a majority in the next election. Ignatieff’s Liberals sank as low as 22 per cent in internal tracking polls—comfortably lower than Stockwell Day’s Canadian Alliance scored in the 2000 general election. Ignatieff replaced just about all of his senior advisers. The Conservative lead has since shrunk, but only a little. The election that reared its head a couple of times during the year seems distant today."

Pressure drop causing wind turbine bat deaths, say Calgary researchers

CBC News - Technology & Science - Pressure drop causing wind turbine bat deaths, say Calgary researchers: "Hundreds of bats found dead each year around wind turbines have suffered internal trauma from a sudden drop in air pressure at the turbine blades, according to new research to be published this week."

Geologist stands trial for triggering earthquakes in Switzerland

Geologist stands trial for triggering earthquakes in Switzerland - Telegraph: "Markus Haering, who designed the geothermal project, rejected allegations that he deliberately damaged properties and said local people knew the risks.

The deep drilling underground caused a series of earthquakes in 2006, including one of 3.4 magnitude, rattling residents of the north-western city of Basel. Geopower Basel, the project leader, has already paid around 9 million Swiss francs ($SF5.3 million) in compensation for cracked walls and other damage on properties near the experiment."

Gwynne Dyer: Tony Blair, the young war criminal

Gwynne Dyer: Tony Blair, the young war criminal | Vancouver, Canada | Straight.com: "That may seem a bit harsh, for never has an alleged war criminal seemed more sincere, more open, even more innocent. As he said about his 2003 decision to involve Britain in the American invasion of Iraq in his resignation speech four years later: “Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right.” But EVERYBODY does what they think is right.

They may mean pragmatically right, or morally right, or even ideologically right, but one way or another people will find ways to justify their actions to themselves: even Pol Pot believed that his actions were justified. When people’s choices lead to the deaths of others, they must eventually be judged by more objective criteria than mere sincerity. That is now happening to Tony Blair.

Yet another public inquiry in Britain is now looking into the origins and consequences of Blair’s decision to attack Iraq, but it will not find him guilty of anything. It is what Conservative Party leader David Cameron called “an establishment stitch-up.”"

The Other Nobel Controversy

The Other Nobel Controversy | Foreign Policy

A sick Liberal Party, and the people who protect it

A sick Liberal Party, and the people who protect it: "There is no admission of the root cause of the problem. The screening process failed because the screeners, the web page developers, the system administrators, and everyone else involved, simply did not see what was wrong with the image of Stephen Harper being murdered.

These people are thriving within the Liberal Party. That is sick beyond words."

Climategate: the ailing 'mainstream' media are committing suicide by ignoring the scoop of the century

Climategate: the ailing 'mainstream' media are committing suicide by ignoring the scoop of the century – Telegraph Blogs: "Climategate is a global household name. No cat has ever emancipated itself more completely from the bag. It is a world-wide scandal – thanks to the internet. Yet, as its ramifications proliferate and dominoes continue to fall, the most repeatedly asked question online is: how can the mainstream media ignore this? Well, we know the answer to that: the MSM are in thrall to the leftist consensus. End of story. But let me pose a follow-up question that may be becoming more imminently relevant."

Beyond debate?

Times Higher Education - Beyond debate?: "Is belief in global-warming science another example of the 'madness of crowds'? That strange but powerful social phenomenon, first described by Charles Mackay in 1841, turns a widely shared prejudice into an irresistible 'authority'. Could it indeed represent the final triumph of irrationality? After all, how rational is it to pass laws banning one kind of light bulb (and insisting on their replacement by ones filled with poisonous mercury vapour) in order to 'save electricity', while ploughing money into schemes to run cars on ... electricity? How rational is it to pay the Russians once for fossil fuels, and a second time for permission (via carbon credits) to burn them (see box page 36)? And how rational is it to suppose that the effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere take between 200 and 1,000 years to be felt, but that solutions can take effect almost instantaneously?"