Fair-ish and Balanced-ish

 
Australian Bashing

It's been a while since I've bashed the Oz, fortunally, the folks at Crikey are doing a fine job.

This column and this followup are required reading for all those who find the binary logic of Greg Sheridan boring.
posted by Ken at 7:22 PM

 
Comments

I'm playing around with a new comment and trackback system.

Hopfully it will turn out to be better than the last couple of tries...
posted by Ken at 7:00 PM

 
Quote of the Day

Once you start writing memos, the only thing left to do is design logos.

-- Peter Doherty on increasing the amount of bureaucratic paper-work on scientists
posted by Ken at 7:51 PM

 
Things that really irk me part 2: One word quotations

Apart from in pretty unusual circumstances, it's next to impossible to get across important information on context by the use of a one word quotation. It is however, a excellent way to misrepresent somebody's views.
posted by Ken at 7:23 PM

 
Things that really irk me part 1: Psychics

This story, about a psychic tip off which lead to a plane being searched for a bomb, is a great example as too why society needs to stop paying attention to these frauds.

Doug Perkins should be given a bollocking for wasting peoples time and money.
posted by Ken at 7:19 PM

 
Reflection on Iraq

I've decided to take a few minutes and look back on Iraq, and how my position has (or hasn't) changed.

I opposed the war because I didn't trust the Bush administration to do a good job on the reconstruction. Their performance in Afghanistan was piss poor. I never thought much of the WMD issue (mostly because I didn't believe that the types of WMD that Saddam could conceivable have were particularly scary), however, I did expect that by now they would have found some aging stockpiles. I also underestimated the death rate. I thought that it was possible for the coalition to keep their numbers of deaths under 100 - that turned out to be badly wrong. I didn't know what to expect from the Iraqi death rate, but I don't find the numbers (low 10's of thousands) to be particularly surprising. The effectiveness of the resistance also came as a surprise (and this may kill plans for an invasion of more populated and less brutalised Iran). Despite this, the reconstruction efforts are proceeding better than what I expected - there is however, considerable room for improvement.

So was the war a good idea?

In terms of the war against terror or ridding the world of WMD's; No (and it may well have had a negative effect).

In terms of improving the situation of the Iraqi people; probably yes (the probably refers to the possibility of Iraqi falling into anarchy or theocracy after the coalition withdraws).
posted by Ken at 6:56 PM

 
Michael King

Sad news from New Zealand. One of its more famous historians Michael King and his wife have died in a car crash. I've always thought very highly of King's work, and this news has left me feeling pretty sad.
posted by Ken at 6:23 PM

 
Update

Once again, sorry about the lack of recent posts, but I'm having to much fun taking a break to get working...

I'll simply throw this sop out; here is a diagram showing surface global temperature trends. It gives a good idea of both the overall trends and the variability in the data.
posted by Ken at 7:07 PM

 
American Geophysicists Union

In my now expired comments section, a poster stated that the AGU isn't a good organisation to get the opinions of geologists from. From this website on the AGU, it makes it clear that the organisation exists to support geophysicists (which incorporates many geologists);

For over three quarters of a century, AGU has supplied an organizational framework within which geophysicists have created the programs and products needed to advance their science. From its beginnings as the representative of American geophysicists in the international scientific community, AGU has evolved beyond parochial boundaries of nation and discipline into an active community of over 41,000 scientists from 130 countries. AGU now stands as a leader in the increasingly interdisciplinary global endeavor that encompasses the geophysical sciences.

AGU, a nonprofit scientific organization, was established in 1919 by the National Research Council and for more than 50 years operated as an unincorporated affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1972 AGU was incorporated in the District of Columbia and membership was opened to scientists and students worldwide.

AGU's mission is:

to promote the scientific study of Earth and its environment in space and to disseminate the results to the public,
to promote cooperation among scientific organizations involved in geophysics and related disciplines, to initiate and participate in geophysical research programs, to advance the various geophysical disciplines through scientific discussion, publication, and dissemination of information. AGU's activities are focused on the organization and dissemination of scientific information in the interdisciplinary and international field of geophysics. The geophysical sciences involve four fundamental areas: atmospheric and ocean sciences; solid-Earth sciences; hydrologic sciences; and space sciences.
posted by Ken at 6:43 PM

 
Richard Lindzen, the NAS and the IPCC

Tim Lambert has an interesting post on Richard Lindzen and some of his statements on the science of climate change.

I don't have much to add, except, a few years ago I had the honour of speaking to another author (F. Sherwood Roland) of the National Academy of Science report which Lindzen refers to. His description of what the report says was very different to Lindzens.
posted by Ken at 6:36 PM

 
Reality vs Propaganda

I've just seen a transcript of a debate between global warming skeptic Ian Plimmer and Robert Watson (old head of the IPCC).

I don't have time to go into details about how Ian Plimmer is getting it badly wrong, so I'll just focus on one particular line which he appears to be pushing; that there is a conflict between the atmospheric scientists and the geologists.

From the debate, he states:

This is where the IPCC needs input from geologists, who, almost to a person, would disagree with that view.

The view which he refers to, is whether or not human activity significantly effects the earth's climate.

This statement, is IMHO, complete bullshit. For example, we only need to look at a recent statement by the American Geophysical Union:

Human activities are increasingly altering the Earth's climate. These effects add to natural influences that have been present over Earth's history. Scientific evidence strongly indicates that natural influences cannot explain the rapid increase in global near-surface temperatures observed during the second half of the 20th century.

Human impacts on the climate system include increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and their substitutes, methane, nitrous oxide, etc.), air pollution, increasing concentrations of airborne particles, and land alteration. A particular concern is that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide may be rising faster than at any time in Earth's history, except possibly following rare events like impacts from large extraterrestrial objects.

Doesn't sound like the geologists disagree almost to the person.

Jason Soon has an interest post from an climate change agnostic POV which can be read here.
posted by Ken at 6:35 PM

 
Update

Sorry about a lack of new posts. I've been meaning to blog some more, but life is too hectic at the moment. Unfortunally, I don't see that situation changing for at least a couple more weeks.

In the meantime, readers may find this post and ensuring comments on John Quiggin's old blog* interesting.

* John's new blog can be found here.
posted by Ken at 9:00 PM

 
Quote of the Day

--But what of the Australian? Surely its editors care about their paper's reputation. If so, here is a chance to prove it.

Professor Bunyip having caught out a columnist for The Australian manufacturing quotes.

My take: any paper that employs Janet Albrechtsen can't have a problem with their writers making stuff up.
posted by Ken at 7:47 PM