The Great Global Cooling/Warming Thread

[Slybacon]

Living large: Home going up in Highlandville to be one of country’s largest.

CCHeadliner.com

The stretch of U.S. 65 between Ozark and Branson has some of the Ozarks’ most impressive scenery. There are lush, rolling hills, distant horizons and, if you look east, one of the biggest homes in the United States.

A house currently under construction near Highlandville spans almost a full acre from wall to wall, on a 500-acre site. The ambitious project, nearly three years in and barely at the first floor, totals 72,000 square feet.

Putting that figure in perspective might require a few comparisons. According to the Census Bureau, the average new home size over the last five years was between 2,100 and 2,500 square feet. Springfield’s Pythian Castle is between 34,000 and 39,000 square feet, said owner Tamara Finocchiaro. Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ house is 66,000 square feet.

The White House, with three wings on six levels, totals 55,000 square feet.

As for comparisons to local private homes, there may not be any.

“I’m not sure it does compare,” said Todd Wiesehan senior planner with Christian County Planning and Zoning. “It’s a one-of-a-kind project.”

The blueprints attest to that.

Beginning with a 23,000-square-foot basement, the house’s ground level is only slightly smaller and the second story is a little less than 22,000 square feet.

Garage space alone accounts for 4,000 square feet.

Interior plans include two elevators; 15 bedrooms; 14 bathrooms; a two-story, 1,600-square-foot library and two-story, 1,970-square-foot great hall.

The master bedroom is 1,275 square feet.

Perhaps the only unsurprising parts of the massive project are the rumors.

“It’s all concrete, and I’ve heard it’ll have bulletproof glass and a concrete roof,” said Steve Johnson, neighbor to the Woods Fork Road property. “My wife was told it’s supposed to be a corporate retreat.”

At least one part of that is known to be true.

“The walls are all concrete,” said Sheriff Joey Kyle. “It’s large enough to fit two or three homes inside it.”

After hearing about the project, Kyle drove to the site to introduce himself and see it first hand.

The building permit application lists the cost of materials at nearly $6.9 million.

Johnson, who lives just yards from the gated and locked entrance, used to expect little traffic along the secluded road. Now, “hundreds” of construction trucks are the norm.

“One right after another,” Johnson said. “It’s been like that for over a year now. From what I’ve seen and heard, this place is unbelievable.”

So just who will live there? That’s hard to say with certainty.

Records show the building is owned by the Steven T. Huff Family, LLC, but exactly who Steven T. Huff is, is largely unknown. His brother, Joe Huff, Ozark, verified the ownership of the property but was reluctant to disclose any more information.

“The technology involved with the construction is proprietary in nature,” Joe Huff said. “it’s not information we are prepared to talk about right now.”

Joe Huff also verified that the structure is being built as a personal residence and identified himself as the “project manager.” However, available information online and in public records indicate Steven Huff is involved in technological engineering.

The property’s deed says the Steven T. Huff Family, LCC is located in Leesburg, Va. Available online records of political campaign contributions show a Steven T. Huff of Leesburg to be an engineer and chief technology officer of Overwatch Systems, Ltd. According to the Overwatch website, the company “delivers multi-source intelligence (multi-INT), geospatial analysis and custom intelligence solutions to the Department of Defense, national agencies and civilian organizations. ... More than 25,000 analysts in the U.S. Department of Defense and the larger intelligence community utilize Overwatch solutions.”

A company overview of Overwatch on the Bloomberg Businessweek website says Overwatch was formerly known as Sensor Systems.

Overwatch also owns the Medical Numerics company, which, according to its website, “enjoys powerful collaborations with the world’s leading medical imaging research organizations, including The United States National Institutes of Health, Harvard Medical School, Yale University, UCLA School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, and Oxford University.”

The Medical Numerics website says Steven Huff founded Sensor Systems—now Overwatch—in 1993.

Whether the manor is soon to be inhabited by the Huff family or just owned by it, current P&Z restrictions guarantee only one family will live there. P&Z records from March of 2008 show the application was approved with the condition that “the structure can only be occupied by one family at a time.”

In a four-member family, that would equal 18,000 square feet per person.

 

[Slybacon]

http://www.overwatch.com/

In addition to U.S. government applications, Overwatch solutions are used around the globe by a wide variety of organizations to support civil and commercial satellite imagery analysis to monitor climate, wildlife, ecosystems and erosion, as well as for other applications.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Slybacon

[hutch]

What happened to Wood Dragon?

 

He conceded ....

You have only so many fingers you can stick in the dyke so to speak....and I don't mean the lesbian

The levee wall is coming down bit by bit and I guess if you were a true believer as Woody is it would be a bit hard to take.

Edit: WOW...378 posts.....you are setting records here Slybacon...

Edited February 9, 2011 by hutch

[hutch]

Evil Oceans Produce 16 Times As Much CO2 As Humans

http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/evil-oceans-produce-16-times-as-much-co2-as-humans/

Lets drain em......

[Slybacon]

^^^^ Nice Article It really makes me want woody to come back.... I get the feeling he is ignoring this thread.

^^^^ From Hutch's link above.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Slybacon

[Slybacon]

8 Strange Earth Changes That May Threaten Civilization

Activist Post

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

http://www.activistpost.com/2011/01/8-stra...s-that-may.html

Say what, two suns may be visible from Earth in 2012? Everyday we seem to be getting bombarded with warning signs that our planet is changing rapidly. In fact, many of the changes are occurring for the first time in modern recorded history and all seem to indicate a need for civilization to adapt.

Record-breaking heat and cold are striking all corners of the globe; earthquake activity has spiked, even in places thought not to have active fault lines; birds, bees, fish, and other animals are dropping dead with no coherent cause, and there is a flurry of talk about galactic anomalies beginning to happen.

Since the man-made global warming theory has simmered down from a boil, many other concerns have surfaced that appear to minimize possible effects of CO2 concentrations as our greatest concern. Sure, many of these changes may be connected in some way, but the idea that there is a silver bullet to stop this train of collective events is unlikely.

One thing we can say is that we live in very interesting times. These unprecedented events are accelerating at a blistering pace, as we hurl through space on this ball we call Earth. It seems this turbulent cycle is going to continue to manifest despite our best human efforts to stop it. The only thing we can hope to do is digest the available information and plan for the worst, while hoping for the best. Assuredly, humans possess a far greater ability to adapt through technology than the animal kingdom, yet we certainly can't thrive without protecting the entire biosphere.

Here are 8 strange Earth changes that should demand our attention:

1. Environmental collapse: The global environment has been in an exponential rate of degradation for some time. Our economic system can be likened to Pac-Man gobbling up everything in sight until it's game over, except that Pac-Man doesn't crap out waste like our economy does. Furthermore, we can't just put another quarter in the machine and hit the reset button. From the industrial-chemical agriculture business destroying soil, water, and wildlife on a mass scale, to over-fishing the oceans, the Gulf Oil Spill, chemical spraying, strip mining, gas fracking, water toxicity and the like; our entire habitat seems to be in critical need of healing if we expect to maintain life as a whole. Real environmentalists must wake up from their "Inconvenient" trance and realize there's much more to saving the ecosystem than simply reducing CO2 output.

2. Record tectonic activity: Many earthquake researchers have noted the demonstrable uptick in earthquake frequency and strength, with 2010 hitting record levels. The Chile quake rocked the planet, causing us to actually lose a fraction of the length of our year. This increased activity is precisely what was predicted by science researcher, Lawrence Joseph, who documented in his book Apocalypse 2012 that our entire solar system is traveling through an interstellar energy cloud, which would produce significant observable earth changes beginning in 2009. Renowned physicist, Michio Kaku, has recently warned that enormous earthquakes in our lifetime threaten the mega cities we have created, which only compounds the threat. In addition to galactic changes, there is mounting evidence that the human activity of industrial gas fracking -- particularly in Arkansas -- may have led to earthquake swarms in a region which is not normally active. Now we learn that FEMA is buying massive amounts of MREs, blankets, body bags, and other provisions in anticipation of potential catastrophe along the New Madrid Fault.

3. Magnetic Pole Shift: There is clear evidence throughout history of the magnetic poles wandering and even completely reversing. One of the many functions of Earth's magnetic field is to be a natural compass for animals that rely on it for navigation. A second function would be as a protective barrier against solar flares and space radiation. The news lately has been peppered with dead birds and fish, beached whales, bee colony collapse, and animals dropping dead everywhere for no discernible reason. Many theories have been put forward related to localized events, but the global nature of the overall die-off might better indicate an all-encompassing source like the shifting of the poles. An interesting article on SOTT also claims, "there is some correlation between magnetic reversals, ice ages, sea level drops and likely a whole host of other data indicative of catastrophic activity." There is no doubt that the north magnetic pole is moving rapidly toward Russia. The question is whether or not it will increase toward a cataclysmic event, or continue its path resulting in a wide variety of changes, such as recent airport runway closures, that will require humanity to adapt in more subtle ways.

4. Volcanic Activity: The recent alert of ground levels rising at Yellowstone, sitting atop one of the world's largest supervolcanoes, has bulged a full 10 inches over a section measured in miles is concerning. Along with earthquakes, volcanoes also have dramatically increased in activity. Throughout the Ring of Fire, dormant volcanoes have flared up, and others have increased their output. This is yet another indication of global earth changes, which may at the very least require large populations to relocate, and at worst could threaten civilization.

Aussie Floods

5. Extreme Weather: Tom Engelhardt recently wrote, "From now on, rising prices, powerful storms, severe droughts and floods, and other unexpected events are likely to play havoc with the fabric of global society." Engelhardt predicts that high prices for oil, as well as food shortages will surely lead to riots around the world. The extreme weather that has been increasingly ravaging the planet in the last few years is likely caused by one or more of the earth changes outlined in this list. However, the effects are one tangible sign that Earth's climate is shifting in some way. Droughts and floods are showing up in unusual places with more intensity, and unusually harsh arctic winters are pounding Europe, the United States, and elsewhere. If we accept these type of weather events to be the new norm, then civilization must at least adapt its food production methods and locations. We're already seeing a major toll on food prices, which may quickly become a global food crisis in 2011.

6. Weakening Ocean Currents: The Thermohaline Circulation (THC) system is the conveyor belt in the world's oceans that transfers heat from equatorial waters to cooler regions. Weakened or changing ocean currents are being blamed for the extreme cold weather in Europe and warm weather in Greenland. As dramatically shown in the movie The Day After Tomorrow when the North Atlantic Current breaks down, so does the global climate. Despite record heat spikes in the summers, some believe the longer and harsher winters due to changes in the ocean currents may result in a new ice age. This underestimated force is so powerful that even slight changes will force humanity to rediscover their nomadic traits.

7. Galactic Anomalies: Reports that the sun rose two days early in Greenland, and that two suns may be visible from earth in 2012 -- the same year as the end of the Mayan galactic calendar and the myth of an approaching planet in our binary solar system -- all seem to render grade-school Earth Science textbooks thoroughly obsolete. Many have speculated about the ramifications of approaching galactic events, but there are no accepted or overriding theories. However, there is a good chance that some physical effects will be felt on Earth if the force of gravity is altered from planetary alignments and/or approaching celestial objects. Keep your eye on the sky and a go-bag at the ready.

8. Solar Activity: It seems that the sun is still very unpredictable, but when she twitches, so do we. Although many have predicted that a severe solar maximum will peak in the next few years potentially causing blasts of electromagnetic radiation to disrupt major communication systems and perhaps elevate tectonic activity, NASA claims the sun's Great Conveyor Belt has slowed to a "walking pace" in 2006 claiming, “We’ve never seen speeds so low . . . the slowdown we see now means that Solar Cycle 25, peaking around the year 2022, could be one of the weakest in centuries." NASA also reported that the sun experienced a rapid pole reversal in 2001 stating, "Our star's magnetic field has flipped." NASA said that this occurrence is normal and expects another flip in 2012. Even though they claim it has no affect on Earth, the speed of our planet's pole shift has increased over the last decade.

There's no saying for sure what ramifications, if any, these anomalies will cause, but they should be investigated in a serious manner. The challenges facing humanity are difficult enough without constant deceptions and distractions. Collectively, we should demand clear answers about the real threats that are obviously beginning to affect our civilization. Adaptation will be much less painful if we are armed with knowledge and resources. The best thing we can do, individually, is to get educated and become as self-sufficient as possible.

[hutch]

Great News......Gillard has appointed Tim joke Flannery to be Australia's Climate Commissioner.......The man is a joke and a laughing stock and will be the biggest asset when destroying this nonsense of pricing carbon...Fancy putting an alarmist in charge....thats Gillard for ya...

http://www.theaustra...f-1226003546894

ENVIRONMENTALIST and former Australian of the Year Tim Flannery has been appointed to a newly-created position as Australia's climate commissioner.

The well-known global warming activist will chair a panel of six other experts, including scientists and economists.

The commission will work independently of government to advance awareness of climate change issues in the community.

The body was a Labor climate change election commitment, but was overshadowed by the now aborted citizen's assembly plan.

 

Edited February 10, 2011 by hutch

[hutch]

Can we really afford this?

In a 2008 report The International Energy Agency estimated that to prevent CO2 emissions from more than doubling by 2050 will require $47,000 Billion, which is 47 times the entire Australian economy's annual worth; that is today; if the current government brings in its various programs such as the wired NBN and the carbon tax measures the Australian economy won't be worth a pinch of guano; and don't forget that $47,000 Billion is to stop CO2 from more than doubling; to reduce it to just a doubling will be much more.

People who have woken up to this fraud now outweigh the AGW devotees...IMO....It is openly mocked now on most forums, mostly on news sites...

Professor Garnaut has just released the first of a flurry of 8 updates to his 2008 report. In the text he acknowledges that "The majority position remains contested by a small number of dissenters with relevant scientific credentials." But he states in public "There was no area where sceptical views of the science could draw strength from peer-reviewed research released in the past five years."

But of course he was wrong....

In fact, during 2010 alone there were at least 7 new peer-reviewed papers which were based on observation and which fundamentally contradicted catastrophic AGW. These papers include Lindzen and Choi's follow-up paper on outgoing long-wave radiation, Spencer and Braswell's new paper on negative feedback from clouds, Knox and Douglass's paper on ocean heat content increase [there ain't any], Miskolczi's revised paper on the optical depth of the atmosphere, McShane and Wyner's paper demolishing the centrepiece of AGW science, the Hockey-stick, McKitrick's paper demolishing another centre-piece of AGW, the Tropical Hot Spot and Koutsoyiannis's follow-up paper showing the AGW computer models have no predictive skill.

From here...http://www.abc.net.a...shed/43878.html

[lickapop]

Do you guys whack it as you read all this shit? where do you find the time

[hutch]

Do you guys whack it as you read all this shit? where do you find the time

 

Now now licka.....thats not nice....I'm saving you the trouble.....Funny thing though is if I was putting up the other side of the argument I would be getting worshiped for my efforts... Important subject requires attention...simple.

Edited February 10, 2011 by hutch

[lickapop]

LOL

[Legba]

To me, it's not so much about the weather, it's about the lies being spread in order to con the sheeple. The weather topic creates name calling and threats once the Nature deniers run out of pseudoscience. Imagine if the topic was say, the war against weapons of mass destruction, i mean terrorists. Then there would be people being dragged over the coals for diss'in our diggers who were sent off to die in previous bullshit wars (commies? really???). Sheeple will still be sent off to kill and die, lest we expose the bullshit.

This topic can set a precedent for sheeple to see... you would hope.

[lickapop]

your right...its not so much about the weather. I think its funny how there is the sheeple and then there is those who think they are not sheeple.

Im lost...what are we trying to achieve in this thread...expose global warming alarmists? What for...whats that gonna do for mankind? Make us LESS accountable for our usage? Bring back styrofoam MaccasTM wrappers?

Exposing WMD and all the terrorism bs didnt bring the troops back.

Exposing GW bullshit aint gonna change a damn thing in the grand scheme of things... we will all just keep carrying on systematically destroying the planet because there is always some dickhead with his head in the sand saying 'it aint so'

We are all "sheeple" and your kidding yourself if your not. We maybe switched on about some issue and expose a few lies, but, what about all the other lies we are blinded to?

Edited February 10, 2011 by lickapop

[Slybacon]

Oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico are being refilled with oil coming up from below the current oil fields. Russia has drilled over 300 eight

mile deep wells into the Earth’s granite crust. This has worked so well that they worked in Vietnam and found oil off its coast where

everyone said there was no oil. Oil used to be found in sedimentary rock at 2-3 miles deep, but the Russians found a new source.

What is happening? The Russians found that new oil was being made from hot molten rock called magma heating the basement rocks of

the Earth’s crust. As the rocks are heated methane gas is distilled. This combines with carbonates and carbon 14 that occur naturally in

rock, when these are mixed together, they form oil. It’s called Abiotc (non biological) because it does not come from vegetable matter.

The original theory of how oil was formed is that swamps filled with vegetation, (biomass) were covered with mud (called sedimentary

rock once it hardened) and decayed over millions of years into coal or crude oil. This is called the Biotic Theory.

Oil is a renewable resource because it is being made today deep in the earth’s crust. We do not have an energy crisis we have a leadership

crisis. One group says we are running out of energy so we have to cut back all that we do and will not allow us to drill for the new oil.

This new group says we have plenty of oil, let us drill for it and use it. Write or call you congressmen and tell them your views. They are

already feeling the heat from voters, keep the pressure on.

Here are article about the Abiotic Oil

Potential oil supply refill? Washington Times| 5/29/02 | Bruce Bartlett

On April 16, Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, published a startling report that old oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico were somehow

being refilled. That is, new oil was being discovered in fields where it previously had not existed.

[hutch]

your right...its not so much about the weather. I think its funny how there is the sheeple and then there is those who think they are not sheeple.

Im lost...what are we trying to achieve in this thread...expose global warming alarmists? What for...whats that gonna do for mankind? Make us LESS accountable for our usage? Bring back styrofoam MaccasTM wrappers?

Exposing WMD and all the terrorism bs didnt bring the troops back.

Exposing GW bullshit aint gonna change a damn thing in the grand scheme of things... we will all just keep carrying on systematically destroying the planet because there is always some dickhead with his head in the sand saying 'it aint so'

We are all "sheeple" and your kidding yourself if your not. We maybe switched on about some issue and expose a few lies, but, what about all the other lies we are blinded to?

 

And your solution? Too hard basket by the sound of it, I'm not trying to be a prick lickapop but you basically are saying don't question it...we are all being misled so why bother trying to find the truth within this maze of lies and cover ups. Just listen and obey but I don't really think that is you speaking deep down. I am attacking a set of beliefs and that is hard to take for some. We are not all sheeple or we wouldn't be having this debate. You have not refuted any of the evidence that has been placed before you in this very lengthy thread. You are just saying you are right.....mmmm Not too convincing!

[lickapop]

sauce?

You just convinced me to go out and get my dream Audi R8 V12.. cheers man

Its ok there is more oil where that come from...

or just maybe its on the move....flowing through tectonic plates...seeping from one place to the other. Thats my theory. (reaches for video camera, sets up tripod, uploads to ewetube)

[hutch]

sauce?

You just convinced me to go out and get my dream Audi R8 V12.. cheers man

Its ok there is more oil where that come from...

or just maybe its on the move....flowing through tectonic plates...seeping from one place to the other. Thats my theory. (reaches for video camera, sets up tripod, uploads to ewetube)

 

See what I mean?

[bℓσωηG]

lol, ewetube

[lickapop]

Hutch..never once thought you were being a prick.

Im saying question everything, figure out the lie, then subtract that from the harm that lie will cause....in this case that "lie" just may slow down a few sheeple to consume less, care for the environment a bit more blah blah.

I dont refute much i dont know about and if I do, I shouldnt.

Its all data handed to us from different sources, how you perceive it may be different to how I feel about it. I take it all with a grain of salt...both sides

and Im sorry but we are all sheeple...you maybe a cut above most sheeple but your still a follower and you still blindly go about your life believing certain things to be true. think about it

Edited February 10, 2011 by lickapop

[hutch]

And this is from the AGW bible...the Melbourne Age...they had to shut it off quick cause it doesn't reflect their views

[hutch]

The slow collapse of the biggest con ever perpetrated on the peoples of this planet just slowly falls over day by day...

And Gillard is still going to price Carbon?

Any one want a bet that there will be NO chance she will pull it off. NONE...NADA.....100 bucks she doesn't get it in in this term of office and a further 50 bucks says she won't be leader by years end....

Governments, investors and even the World Bank are rushing for the exits in the Great Escape from the green energy bubble.

Solar energy appears to be the worst affected sector so far. Dow Jones reports on a startling U-turn by Britain's ultra-green government has caught investors off guard and shock waves across the markets will likely precipitate the further rush from green energy projects to shale gas.

The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change made the shock announcement as it revealed a comprehensive review of its Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program. Indications from data provider, Prequin are that over $1bn in earmarked funds may be lost as Britain now promises it will only hold tariffs until April 2012.

Green Investors 'Feel Betrayed' by European Governments

Britain's decision is another nail in the coffin for Europe's tottering green energy market. Last year the first of several crushing body blows was dealt to environmentalist dreams when the Spanish government retrospectively cut the value of its tariffs in its own U-turning energy review.

The devastated Spanish Solar Photovoltaic Industry Association, with mass bankruptcies on the cards, is accusing their government of utter betrayal is yet to carry out a threat to sue over the ruling.

As the green house of cards collapses Netherlands-based investment manager DIF and BNP Paribas and venture capitalists such as Future Capital Partners are rumored to be extremely fearful of further repercussions coming at a time when European public opinion is bored and fatigued after two decades of endless global warming hype.

UK Energy Minister Charles Hendry made the starkly ominous admission, "one third of Britons think the science on climate change has been exaggerated."

Not helping the green cause has been a succession of brutally cold Northern hemispheric winters which an increasing number of scientists fear may be the harbinger of the onset of a mini-ice age.

Abundance of Shale Gas Deflates Green Energy Bubble

Causing green lobbyists and environmentally focused investors to cry bitter into their carrot juice comes the news that China is making its move to become pre-eminent in shale gas investment.

Peter Foster in the Financial Post (February 11, 2011) reports that energy company Encana is to get a proposed $5.4-billion investment by PetroChina in its shale gas operations. The move he says "confirms the soaring importance of a resource that 10 years ago was hardly on the commercial map."

The market obviously liked the news of the Chinese investment as Encana shares jumped 4.5% to close at $32.02.

Savvy shale gas investors are also looking most eagerly at Canada where the discovery that Quebec has considerable shale gas potential has dealt another blow to the idea that the world's energy resources are anywhere near a so-called "peak."

A strident Quebec Oil and Gas Association has hired former Parti Quebecois premier Lucien Bouchard to help lobby for provincial development to exploit the unexpected huge find.

With so many known large deposits of shale gas in countries such as Poland, Germany, France and the U.K. economic strategists are finally waking up to the fact that this monumental new resources could help free Europe from the threat of disruptions from its main natural gas supplier, Russia.

Andrew Orlowski reporting for 'The Register' (February 10, 2011) reveals Holland has also joined the rush away from green by becoming the first country to abandon the EU-wide target of producing 20 per cent of its domestic power from renewables. The Dutch are now putting their long-term faith in nuclear. Netherland's only nuclear reactor, the Borssele plant, scheduled for closure by 2003 is now planned to operate at least until 2034.

World Bank Joins Rush Away from the Green White Elephant

Top line international bankers also appear to be abandoning 'big green' according to a report by climate scientist Roger Pielke Jr. who highlights two recent research papers published by influential thinkers inside the World Bank.

Economics papers by Robert Mendelsohn and Gokay Saher (here in PDF) and Medelsohn, Kerry Emanuel and Shun Chonabayashi (here in PDF) chop the legs from under the pro-green Stern Review (2007) and affirm that no human impact may be inferred on global climate.

With economists plainly joining an increasing number of scientists in global warming skepticism its little wonder there's now a mass flight away from 'renewables;' such that both investors and governments are compelled to follow suit in the clearest indication yet that green energy won't live up to its promises.

The key to long-term economic success now appears to be safely premised once again on solid market innovation, not ideologically driven government subsidies; such subsidized ventures have a long and notorious history as lame duck enterprises. It seems 'green renewables' has become the latest of these white elephants

http://climaterealis...ndex.php?id=720

Investors face ruin....got on the wrong horse I would say.....

Edited February 11, 2011 by hutch

[hutch]

My point exactly only days ago.....he is the best man for the job at hand......

The bible of Booga Booga...ya gota love that...180K for 3 days a week.....How do these wankers keep falling on their feet? Alarmist of the year maybe just what our Jooliar wanted....

TIM Flannery has just been hired by the Gillard Government to scare us stupid, and I can't think of a better man for the job.

This Alarmist of the Year is worth every bit of the $180,000 salary he'll get as part-time chairman of the Government's new Climate Commission.

His job is simple: to advise us that we really, truly have to accept, say, the new tax on carbon dioxide emissions that this Government threatens to impose.

This kind of work is just up the dark alley of Flannery, author of The Weather Makers, that bible of booga booga.

He's had years of practice trying to terrify us into thinking our exhausts are turning the world into a fireball that will wipe out civilisation, melt polar ice caps and drown entire cities under hot seas.

Small problem, though: after so many years of hearing Flannery's predictions, we're now able to see if some of the scariest have actually panned out.

And we're also able to see if people who bet real money on his advice have cleaned up or been cleaned out.

So before we buy a great green tax from Flannery, whose real expertise is actually in mammology, it may pay to check his record. Ready?

In 2005, Flannery predicted Sydney's dams could be dry in as little as two years because global warming was drying up the rains, leaving the city "facing extreme difficulties with water".

Check Sydney's dam levels today: 73 per cent. Hmm. Not a good start.

In 2008, Flannery said: "The water problem is so severe for Adelaide that it may run out of water by early 2009."

Check Adelaide's water storage levels today: 77 per cent.

In 2007, Flannery predicted cities such as Brisbane would never again have dam-filling rains, as global warming had caused "a 20 per cent decrease in rainfall in some areas" and made the soil too hot, "so even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and river systems ... ".

Check the Murray-Darling system today: in flood. Check Brisbane's dam levels: 100 per cent full.

All this may seem funny, but some politicians, voters and investors have taken this kind of warming alarmism very seriously and made expensive decisions in the belief it was sound.

So let's check on them, too.

In 2007, Flannery predicted global warming would so dry our continent that desalination plants were needed to save three of our biggest cities from disaster.

As he put it: "Over the past 50 years, southern Australia has lost about 20 per cent of its rainfall, and one cause is almost certainly global warming ...

"In Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, water supplies are so low they need desalinated water urgently, possibly in as little as 18 months."

One premier, Queensland's Peter Beattie, took such predictions - made by other warming alarmists, too - so seriously that he spent more than $1 billion of taxpayers' money on a desalination plant, saying "it is only prudent to assume at this stage that lower-than-usual rainfalls could eventuate".

But check that desalination plant today: mothballed indefinitely, now that the rains have returned.

(Incidentally, notice how many of Flannery's big predictions date from 2007? That was the year warming alarmism reached its most hysterical pitch and Flannery was named Australian of the Year.)

Back to another tip Flannery gave in that year of warming terror. In 2007, he warned that "the social licence of coal to operate is rapidly being withdrawn globally" by governments worried by the warming allegedly caused by burning the stuff.

We should switch to "green" power instead, said Flannery, who recommended geothermal - pumping water on to hot rocks deep underground to create steam.

"There are hot rocks in South Australia that potentially have enough embedded energy in them to run Australia's economy for the best part of a century," he said.

"The technology to extract that energy and turn it into electricity is relatively straightforward."

Flannery repeatedly promoted this "straightforward" technology, and in 2009, the Rudd government awarded $90 million to Geodynamics to build a geothermal power plant in the Cooper Basin, the very area Flannery recommended. Coincidentally, Flannery has for years been a Geodynamics shareholder, a vested interest he sometimes declares.

Time to check on how that business tip went. Answer: erk.

The technology Flannery said was "relatively straighforward" wasn't.

One of Geodynamics' five wells at Innamincka collapsed in an explosion that damaged two others. All had to be plugged with cement.

The project has now been hit by the kind of floods Flannery didn't predict in a warming world, with Geodynamics announcing work had been further "delayed following extensive local rainfall in the Cooper Basin region".

The technological and financing difficulties mean there is no certainty now that a commercial-scale plant will ever get built, let alone prove viable, so it's no surprise the company's share price has almost halved in four months.

Never mind, here comes Flannery with his latest scares and you-beaut fix.

His job as Climate Commission chief, says Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, is to "provide an authoritative, independent source of information on climate change to the Australian community" and "build the consensus about reducing Australia's carbon pollution".

That, translated, means selling us whatever scheme the Government cooks up to tax carbon dioxide, doing to the economy what the floods have done to Flannery's hot-rocks investment.

See why I say Flannery is the right man for this job? Who better to teach us how little we really know about global warming and how much it may cost to panic?

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/it-pays-to-check-out-flannerys-predictions-about-climate-change-says-andrew-bolt/story-e6frfhqf-1226004644818

[hutch]

 

 

 

 

The debate ain't over in the US and elswhere so why should it be here. Why does Gillard appoint a team that are only there to change our opinions to their way of thinking....That is FUCKED in my opinion.... another waste of money in the name of AGW

The Truth About Climate Change Open Letter

Open Letter to the United States Congress: 8 February 2011

 

 

 

To view a pdf file of this letter,

click here.

 

 

February 8, 2011

To the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate:

In reply to "The Importance of Science in Addressing Climate Change"

On 28 January 2011, eighteen scientists sent a letter (see also this news story) to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate urging them to "take a fresh look at climate change." Their intent, apparently, was to disparage the views of scientists who disagree with their contention that continued business-as-usual increases in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced from the burning of coal, gas, and oil will lead to a host of cataclysmic climate-related problems.

We, the undersigned, totally disagree with them and would like to take this opportunity to briefly state our side of the story.

The eighteen climate alarmists (as we refer to them, not derogatorily, but simply because they view themselves as "sounding the alarm" about so many things climatic) state that the people of the world "need to prepare for massive flooding from the extreme storms of the sort being experienced with increasing frequency," as well as the "direct health impacts from heat waves" and "climate-sensitive infectious diseases," among a number of other devastating phenomena. And they say that "no research results have produced any evidence that challenges the overall scientific understanding of what is happening to our planet's climate," which is understood to mean their view of what is happening to Earth's climate.

To these statements, however, we take great exception. It is the eighteen climate alarmists who appear to be unaware of "what is happening to our planet's climate," as well as the vast amount of research that has produced that knowledge.

For example, a lengthy review of their claims and others that climate alarmists frequently make can be found on the Web site of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change (see Carbon Dioxide and Earth's Future: Pursuing the Prudent Path). That report offers a point-by-point rebuttal of all of the claims of the "group of eighteen," citing in every case peer-reviewed scientific research on the actual effects of climate change during the past several decades.

If the "group of eighteen" pleads ignorance of this information due to its very recent posting, then we call their attention to an even larger and more comprehensive report published in 2009, Climate Change Reconsidered: The 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC). That document has been posted for more than a year in its entirety at www.nipccreport.org.

These are just two recent compilations of scientific research among many we could cite. Do the 678 scientific studies referenced in the CO2 Science document, or the thousands of studies cited in the NIPCC report, provide real-world evidence (as opposed to theoretical climate model predictions) for global warming-induced increases in the worldwide number and severity of floods? No. In the global number and severity of droughts? No. In the number and severity of hurricanes and other storms? No.

Do they provide any real-world evidence of Earth's seas inundating coastal lowlands around the globe? No. Increased human mortality? No. Plant and animal extinctions? No. Declining vegetative productivity? No. More frequent and deadly coral bleaching? No. Marine life dissolving away in acidified oceans? No.

Quite to the contrary, in fact, these reports provide extensive empirical evidence that these things are not happening. And in many of these areas, the referenced papers report finding just the opposite response to global warming, i.e., biosphere-friendly effects of rising temperatures and rising CO2 levels.

In light of the profusion of actual observations of the workings of the real world showing little or no negative effects of the modest warming of the second half of the twentieth century, and indeed growing evidence of positive effects, we find it incomprehensible that the eighteen climate alarmists could suggest something so far removed from the truth as their claim that no research results have produced any evidence that challenges their view of what is happening to Earth's climate and weather.

But don't take our word for it. Read the two reports yourselves. And then make up your own minds about the matter. Don't be intimidated by false claims of "scientific consensus" or "overwhelming proof." These are not scientific arguments and they are simply not true.

Like the eighteen climate alarmists, we urge you to take a fresh look at climate change. We believe you will find that it is not the horrendous environmental threat they and others have made it out to be, and that they have consistently exaggerated the negative effects of global warming on the U.S. economy, national security, and public health, when such effects may well be small to negligible.

Signed by:

Syun-Ichi Akasofu, University of Alaska¹

Scott Armstrong, University of Pennsylvania

James Barrante, Southern Connecticut State University¹

John Boring, University of Virginia¹

Roger Cohen, American Physical Society Fellow

David Douglass, University of Rochester

Don Easterbrook, Western Washington University¹

Robert Essenhigh, The Ohio State University¹

Neil Frank, Former Director National Hurricane Center

Martin Fricke, Senior Fellow, American Physical Society

Lee Gerhard, University of Kansas¹

Ulrich Gerlach, The Ohio State University

Victor Goldschmidt, Purdue University¹

Guillermo Gonzalez, Grove City College

Laurence Gould, University of Hartford

Bill Gray, Colorado State University¹

Will Happer, Princeton University²

Howard Hayden, University of Connecticut¹

Craig Idso, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change

Sherwood Idso, USDA, U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory¹

Richard Keen, University of Colorado¹

Doral Kemper, USDA, Agricultural Research Service¹

Hugh Kendrick, Office of Nuclear Reactor Programs, DOE¹

Edward Krug, University of Illinois¹

Richard Lindzen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology²

Anthony Lupo, University of Missouri

Patrick Michaels, Cato Institute

Donald Nielsen, University of California, Davis¹

Al Pekarek, St. Cloud State University

John Rhoads, Midwestern State University¹

Nicola Scafetta, Duke University

Gary Sharp, Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study

S. Fred Singer, University of Virginia¹

Roy Spencer, University of Alabama

George Taylor, Past President, American Association of State Climatologists

Frank Tipler, Tulane University

James Wanliss, Presbyterian College

Leonard Weinstein, National Institute of Aerospace Senior Research Fellow

Samuel Werner, University of Missouri¹

Bruce West, American Physical Society Fellow

Thomas Wolfram, University of Missouri¹

1 - Emeritus or Retired

2 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Endorsed by:

Rodney Armstrong, Geophysicist

Richard Becherer, University of Connecticut¹

E. Calvin Beisner, The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation

Edwin Berry, Certified Consulting Meteorologist

Joseph Bevelacqua, Bevelacqua Resources

Carmen Catanese, American Physical Society Member

Roy Clark, Ventura Photonics

John Coleman, Meteorologist KUSI TV

Darrell Connelly, Geophysicist

Joseph D'Aleo, Certified Consulting Meteorologist

Terry Donze, Geophysicist¹

Mike Dubrasich, Western Institute for Study of the Environment

John Dunn, American Council on Science and Health of NYC

Dick Flygare, Engineer

Michael Fox, Nuclear industry/scientist

Gordon Fulks, Gordon Fulks and Associates

Steve Goreham, Climate Science Coalition of America

Ken Haapala, Science & Environmental Policy Project

Martin Hertzberg, Bureau of Mines¹

Art Horn, Meteorologist

Keith Idso, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change

John Kimberly, Geologist

Jay Lehr, The Heartland Institute

Robert Lerine, Industrial and Defense Research and Engineering¹

Peter Link, Geologist

James Macdonald, Chief Meteorologist for the Travelers Weather Service¹

Roger Matson, Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists

Tony Pann, Meteorologist WBAL TV

Ned Rasor, Consulting Physicist

James Rogers, Geologist¹

Norman Rogers, National Association of Scholars

Rene Rogers, Litton Electron Devices¹

Bruce Schwoegler, MySky Communications, Inc.

Thomas Sheahen, Western Technology Incorporated

James Spann, Chief Meteorologist, ABC 33/40 - Birmingham

Andrew Spurlock, Starfire Engineering and Technologies, Inc.

Leighton Steward, PlantsNeedCO2.org

Soames Summerhays, Summerhays Films, Inc.

Charles Touhill, Consulting Environmental Engineer

David Wojick, Climatechangedebate.org

Bob Zybach, Ecologist

1 - Emeritus or Retired

 

http://www.co2scienc...eOpenLetter.php

Also here @ the daily telegraph in Sydney http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php

Edited February 11, 2011 by hutch

[hutch]

“I can’t see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin and I will keep

 

 

 

them out somehow – even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!”

 

 

 

- Phil Jones to Michael Mann,

Climategate emails, July 8th 2004.

 

 

 

The Sun is setting on the "GloBull Warming /Pal Review" Scam....

This really is a good read.....

http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2011/02/the-sun-is-setting-on-the-globull-warming-pal-review-scam.html

[hutch]

Professor Counters Global Warming Myths With Data

Global warming is the favored scapegoat for any seemingly strange occurrence in nature, from dying frogs to hurricanes to drowning polar bears. But according to a Berkeley group of scientists, global warming does not deserve all these attributions. Rather, they say global warming is responsible for one thing: the rising temperature.

However, global warming has become a politicized issue, largely becoming disconnected from science in favor of inflammatory headlines and heated debates that are rarely based on any science at all, according to Richard Muller, a UC Berkeley physics professor and member of the team.

"There is so much politics involved, more so than in any other field I've been in," Muller said. "People would write their articles with a spin on them. The people in this field were obviously very genuinely concerned about what was happening ... But it made it difficult for a scientist to go in and figure out that what they were saying was solid science."

Muller came to the conclusion that temperature data - which, in the United States, began in the late 18th century when Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin made the first thermometer measurements - was the only truly scientifically accurate way of studying global warming.

Without the thermometer and the temperature data that it provides, Muller said it was probable that no one would have noticed global warming yet. In fact, in the period where rising temperatures can be attributed to human activity, the temperature has only risen a little more than half a degree Celsius, and sea levels, which are directly affected by the temperature, have increased by eight inches.

To that end, he formed the Berkeley Earth group with 10 other highly acclaimed scientists, including physicists, climatologists and statisticians. Before the group joined in the study of the warming world, there were three major groups that had released analysis of historical temperature data. But each has come under attack from climate skeptics, Muller said.

 

In the group's new study, which will be released in about a month, the scientists hope to address the doubts that skeptics have raised. They are using data from all 39,390 available temperature stations around the world - more than five times the number of stations that the next most thorough group, the Global Historical Climatology Network, used in its data set.

Other groups were concerned with the quality of the stations' data, which becomes less reliable the earlier it was measured. Another decision to be made was whether to include data from cities, which are known to be warmer than suburbs and rural areas, said team member Art Rosenfeld, a professor emeritus of physics at UC Berkeley and former California Energy Commissioner.

"One of the problems in sorting out lots of weather stations is do you drop the data from urban centers, or do you down-weight the data," he said. "That's sort of the main physical question."

Global warming is real, Muller said, but both its deniers and exaggerators ignore the science in order to make their point.

"There are the skeptics - they're not the consensus," Muller explained. "There are the exaggerators, like Al Gore and Tom Friedman who tell you things that are not part of the consensus ... (which) goes largely off of thermometer records."

Some scientists who fear that their results will be misinterpreted as proof that global warming is not urgent, such as in the case of Climategate, fall into a similar trap of exaggeration.

The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study was conducted with the intention of becoming the new, irrefutable consensus, simply by providing the most complete set of historical and modern temperature data yet made publicly available, so deniers and exaggerators alike can see the numbers.

"We believed that if we brought in the best of the best in terms of statistics, we could use methods that would be easier to understand and not as open to actual manipulation," said Elizabeth Muller, Richard Muller's daughter and project manager of the study. "We just create a methodology that will then have no human interaction to pick or choose data."

 

 

 

http://www.dailycal.org/article/111906/professor_counters_global_warming_myths_with_data