tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post5797342099189032937..comments2024-03-26T16:03:42.608-06:00Comments on Flares into Darkness: Mr. Millerambisinistralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03836786826294202405noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-27186091426231544182007-07-12T07:00:00.000-06:002007-07-12T07:00:00.000-06:00Barry,They also turn to appeals to authority as pa...Barry,<BR/><BR/>They also turn to appeals to authority as part of the ad hom. The Coal Mining Industry Consultant bit is a real hoot - McIntyre's work is circumscribed by regulation and law, if he fiddles data for a prospectus he's subject to a hell of a lot more than ridicule. What court will ever hear testimony as to why a climate guys data was cooked?<BR/><BR/>Seneca gave a pointer to <A HREF="http://climatesci.colorado.edu/" REL="nofollow">this guy</A> whom I find to be the most intelligible of the "climate" scientists. Pielke seems to be deeply commited to a search for answers rather than the defense of any particular position.<BR/><BR/>I've been getting a small kick out of Watt's documentation of "small" siting problems regarding NOAA data collection points. Some of the <A HREF="http://www.surfacestations.org/odd_sites.htm" REL="nofollow">site pictures</A> are fairly amusing.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the post, Knuck.Rick Ballardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11082425215912372067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-7307727821607441592007-07-11T21:52:00.000-06:002007-07-11T21:52:00.000-06:00McKitrick was co-author with Steve McIntyre of Cli...McKitrick was co-author with Steve McIntyre of <A HREF="http://www.climateaudit.org/" REL="nofollow">Climate Audit</A> of several papers disputing the Hockey Team (as they are known for the promulgation of the (in)famous Hockey Stick graph purporting to show the sky is falling now). Their partnership is interesting. McIntyre is a statistician (but when on TV the producers ominously label him as <I>Coal Mining Industry Consultant</I>, as that's where he does most of his work) and McKitrick is an economist. Climate science is sorely in need of good statisticians and good economists, as the climate reseachers are good at neither, but all of the "solutions" to "climate change" involve understanding statistics and economics. The Hockey Team looks increasingly like snake oil salesmen. When criticized on methodological grounds, they tend to make ad hominem attacks--not exactly a sign of strength.Barry Dauphinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15808109325931309525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-37468012279076402007-07-11T21:03:00.000-06:002007-07-11T21:03:00.000-06:00Ross McKitrick is one of the most prominent anthro...Ross McKitrick is one of the most prominent anthropogenic warming skeptics in North America. He was the one who discovered Mann's code and 'censored' data on an internet site and one of the first to question Mann's hockey stick graph. Seneca has referred to some of his work before. He is deeply involved in the ongoing debate.<BR/><BR/>I find the unreliability of the temperature data quite fascinating, it does make it difficult to draw conclusions. There are other methods of getting temperature profiles by using satellites that look down through the edges of CO2 absorbtion bands and fitting the varying results to atmospheric models -- the edges of the bands are subtly dependent on the temperature and pressure profile of the atmosphere -- but I don't know how well calibrated the results are or how deeply they extend into the atmosphere. I have been peripherally involved with two of those instruments and met the guys from the U of Wisconsin who specialize in backing out the temperatures, but I could never could get a clear idea of what the actual errors of measurement were.<BR/><BR/>It is amazing how difficult the simplest measurements can be once they are removed from the controlled enviroment of the laboratory. The laboratory has got to be one of the all time great inventions.chuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15164145672293455823noreply@blogger.com