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  #201   Report Post  
Dave Hinz
 
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On Sat, 2 Jul 2005 09:32:01 -0400, George wrote:

"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On 30 Jun 2005 15:04:28 GMT, Dave Hinz wrote:


So, why does this table show 70.6 and you see 41? Even the empirical
vs. USA'n gallon size doesn't wash with the numbers.


That's a good question- the mfg sticker claims 35-51 hwy mpg. I have
no idea where the table came from in the first place. Could be they
used some kind of test that had nothing to do with real-world
conditions.


71 km = 44 miles Sorta makes you wonder?


Well spotted, George. Maybe the person who posted the table can provide
the link so we can read it for ourselves. Maybe it's being
misrepresented.

  #202   Report Post  
Dave Hinz
 
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On Sat, 02 Jul 2005 18:50:43 GMT, Tim and Steph wrote:
Hey, it works, When I added the water injector from JC Whitney, my
mileage went up to 70 mpg. They I added that fan thingies under the
carb, plus a special ingredient in the gas tank and I'm getting 82 mpg
on a regular basis. I can't wait for the Fire Ring spark plugs to get
here. My goal is to top 100 mpg.


Funny thing - Following a recent engine swap, I've suddenly got a wonky
speedo, which is of course making the odometer less than reliable.


FWIW, if it's a mechanical speedo, you probably crimped the flexi-cable
a bit and got a kink in it. BTDT. It's a touchy little mechanism.
  #203   Report Post  
Dave Hinz
 
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On Sat, 2 Jul 2005 08:51:24 -0700, lgb wrote:
In article , says...
On Fri, 1 Jul 2005 11:16:36 -0700, lgb wrote:

Hmmm. Fish stocks are being depleted, if not eliminated, by
overfishing.


In places.


Perhaps you could list the places in which they are abundant?


Perhaps you could do your own homework? It was your assertion, not
mine.

Land, as well as sea, animals and plants are going extinct
due to habitat loss, pollution, and overhunting,


Just as they've been doing for millions of years,


From pollution?


You're being intentionally dense, aren't you. Did I _say_ from
pollution?

and the very atmosphere
is changing due to pollution. CO2 is going up, O is going down.


Cite, please?


You got me. I couldn't find the report on oxygen levels I'd read on
this.


Well then.

However, it's accepted by almost everyone that CO2 is going up.


Yes. What is not accepted by "almost everyone" (as if popularity
decides science), is _why_ that's happening.

By definition, if the percent of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing the
percent of oxygen, and nitrogen, and the trace gases, are going down.


Word games. I thought you were better than that. How about you go find
out what's going up and what's going down and come back to us once you
have a coherent point, Sparky.

reduction in the ozone layer is increasing skin cancer rates,


And, let's see. That's related to pollution how, exactly?

What's destroying the ozone layer, Dave?


What do you _think_ is destroying it? Molecules of very heavy freon?
Why is it that ozone down here (where, you know, the evil R-12 can get
to it) is a pollutant (Ozone Action Days, anyone? Hello?)?

Can you show me the long term data on the ozone layer, going back say,
1000 years? Is it cyclical?

and
nobody's quite sure what's happening to the amphibians.


Well then I'm not quite sure if I should be concerned.

Oh good - ignorance is bliss.


You said "nobody's quite sure what's happening", so I'll be one of the
"nobody's quite sure" what to do. Your statement is laughably
ambiguous.

I don't know why asthma has greatly increased over the last few decades
either, but I sure would like to.


Has it? Or, is it being diagnosed more?

I'm never sure with you Dave, whether your really believe your positions
or you're just yanking my chain. But in either case, some may take your
views as stated, so I felt I shoud respond. But this is the end of it
for me. You can have the last words, mistaken though they be.


I'm still trying to figure out what the hell your points are.

BTW, do you believe the earth is only 6000 years old?


Why in the world would you ascribe an idiotic view like that to me? You
do this with everyone you disagree with, assume that you disagree on
every topic there is? That's an odd failing, if so.

  #204   Report Post  
Dave Hinz
 
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On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 20:50:59 -0500, Todd Fatheree wrote:

I've done your work for you and found a report of falling oxygen
levels. Apparently, an Australian study
(http://www.climateark.org/articles/1999/atoxfall.htm) from 1999 measured
the atmospheric oxygen change over a 20-year period to be (are you sitting
down) 0.03%.


Oh, good. Here I thought I was just getting out of breath easy due to
age and being not in such good shape. Turns out Larry was actually
right after all.

  #205   Report Post  
Dave Hinz
 
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On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 22:26:10 -0700, lgb wrote:
Sorry - my last post got away before I was finished.


That's OK, you made sense there for a minute.

And that's the last time I'm going to respond to a demand that I give
references to a widely known fact. Next time, you give me references
that prove I'm wrong.


Bull****. You said O2 levels were going _DOWN_, and claimed that was a
widely known fact. You made a connected 2-part statement, which is what
I asked for the cite on. Pretending that the CO2 question was why the
cite was asked for is a cheap, ineffective diversionary tactic.



  #206   Report Post  
Larry Jaques
 
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On 4 Jul 2005 12:01:09 -0700, the opaque
clearly wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:
"How can we make our point with so little data to go on? Aha, make the
increments so small the data (with which we want to scare folks) is
off the charts!" Oh, and "Let's estimate data about 10x longer than
we have ANY data for.)


SPLORF! I realize that is not your only criticism but it is hilarious
that you would base ANY criticism on the tic spacing on the temeprature
axis. If they spaced the tics 10 degrees apart the plot would look the
same, it would just be harder to convert the picture to numbers.


Graph range has been used to hide data more than once, bubba. Here
they go the opposite direction to support falsehoods and hysteria.

Yes, global warming is real. We're coming out of the Little Ice Age.
But I don't expect to see anything like Hell on Earth any time soon,
nor do I believe that the other scientists, such as those the movie
"The Day After Tomorrow" concept was based on, have a solid data
set(read: clue), either. Chances are good that we may see a full ONE
DEGREE CENTIGRADE rise in temps this century. I'm more afraid of OJ
than I am of Global Warming.


Recommendation for Chicken Littles: Read Michael Crichton's book
"State of Fear" for both a great story and an excellent reference
work with detailed bibliography for further research. It will give
you a whole new perspective, I guarantee!


Fiction or non-Fiction?


Fiction, but he states up front that ALL the data supplied is real and
he supports that with references in the back of the book, including
books, websites, published paper references, etc. If you think the
world is melting and we're all gonna die, I strongly suggest you read
that book tomorrow. Here are a couple links:

http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/ghcn/ghcn.html
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/station_data/
The data for Punta Arenas (the closest station to Antarctica) shows a
mean 0.5C drop in temps between 1888 and 2005. It's getting COLDER!
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/gistemp_station.py?id=304859340004&data_set=1&num_ neighbors=1


Annoy a politician: Be trustworthy, faithful, and honest!
---

Daring advice! Let us know how that works out for you, unless they
take your internet access away ...


Well, they haven't yet, but I have seen a black helicopter.


---
Annoy a politician: Be trustworthy, faithful, and honest!
---
http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development
  #207   Report Post  
Prometheus
 
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On Sat, 02 Jul 2005 11:05:56 -0700, Mark & Juanita
wrote:
Snipped for brevity

While we may not destroy the planet, or render it absolutely sterile,
it's certainly possible that we can make it a worse place to live.
That's reason enough to think about using resources sensibly. It may
not take that much dramatic change on the part of every person to make
a huge difference to the whole. We're still going to need oil, we're
still going to have to cut down trees- it's not like we should all go
back to living in caves and riding on horseback or any of that
nonsense, but there is certainly room for admitting that something is
happening and working towards a reasonable solution.


I don't disagree with taking care of things, particularly if for no other
reason than to keep our local environment pleasant. However, the strident
extreme is what is being heard, and often acted upon -- that side will
settle for nothing less than an absolute halt to future development and
desires reversal of a significant portion of our current way of life (for
everybody but themselves of course -- the "enlightened ones" must maintain
their standard of living to assure that the rest of us peons are behaving
appropriately).


Yeah, I don't go for the arguments that we must stop moving forward-
all I'm saying is that sticking one's head in the sand is just about
as dangerous as the "strident extreme" of complete denial. There are
a lot of things we can and should do as inhabitants of the planet to
make sure we leave the place in a decent condition. Most of them are
common sense, and we've already got some good ideas floating around.
We don't need to all recycle our cars and walk everywhere wearing
sandals, but it's not a bad idea to carpool if you can, and get the
most efficient vehicle that meets your actual needs. If a guy is
hauling truckloads of bricks and lumber on a daily basis, then he
probably needs an SUV. If that same person is merely hauling one
person around, a compact car makes more sense. If they've got a large
family but little cargo, a station wagon or minivan is more sensible
than an armored troop transport. Simple stuff. When a local
businessman gets nabbed by the DNR for the fifth or sixth time because
he's dumping toxic waste into the storm drains, he should be shut down
until he fixes the problem- not given a slap on the wrist because he
provides a lot of tax revenue.

It's less a problem of what is actually happening with the enviroment
than it is a problem of what is actually happening with society, once
you cut through some of the BS. When people stop hiding behind insane
opinions supported by plays on words and mindless yes-men, most folks
tend to behave in a decent manner because they know they have to look
their neighbors in the eyes when they get home. For a simplified
example- if you own a company that produces widget X, and that process
creates 1000 gallons of liquid chlorine waste a week, and you decide
that the most cost-effective way to dispose of it is to dump it out
into the grass behind your building, no one should tolerate you
getting huffy and yelling about how the science is not entirely proven
when the neighborhood demands that you stop it. But a slick spin
doctor can turn even the most egregious offence into something that
sounds reasonable to the average person, and that is the brick wall
everyone keeps hitting thier collective head on. If we had a couple
of retarded kids with limited vocabularies reporting the daily news,
people would gag on on the clarity of the real evil we do to one
another on a daily basis. Instead, we have some doofus with an MBA in
business and a thousand dollar haircut arguing with wild-eyed one-pony
pundits on CNN about what the definition of an obscure term is- while
somehow completely ignoring the orginal issues. Every day yields
thousands of classic examples of sophistry, but that's just how things
are "done", I guess.

Less BS would really help the environment the most- it's getting hard
to see anything with all those stinky methane clouds in the way. It's
a good arguement for wind power- the hot air all around us could
supply all the energy we need.... though the poison it drips in our
ears is worse than any black-lung cancers from inefficiently burning
coal, or completely sterile oceans. It doesn't destroy the greenery,
it destroys our minds, and those are the things we cannot afford to
destroy. Everything else can be figured out with a clear head and a
little honesty.
  #208   Report Post  
Duane Bozarth
 
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wrote:

Duane Bozarth wrote:
wrote:


Ethanol is better deal to date...

Made from corn? I have been wondering if it would not be better to
use sorghum, which grows well over much of the same range as corn,
for producing the sugar used to make ethanol.

Primarily corn, yes. Sorghum doesn't have nearly the sugar content of
corn and nowhere nor the yield/acre.

I gather that the suagar/acre ration is lower for sorghum. I'm
not surprised that the corn kernals have a higher concentration
of sugar than the sorghum stalks but am surpised that there is
more sugar in the whole corn plant, than in the whole sorghum plant.
When corn is raised for ethanol production, do they squeeze the
whole plant, rather than just the kernals?


No, the grain is the feedstock, not the plant...the grain must ripen to
achiece maximum energy content (and as a secondary necessity, must be
dry enough to be handled and stored w/o danger of mold damage and
spontaneous combustion) and at that time the sugars in the foliage are
largely used up.


I'm surprised ther eis more sugar in corn kernals than in the entire
sorghum plant. I'm not clear on why the grain is stored at all. It
seems ot me it would be more efficient to continuously process it
as it is harvested and just tank the jiuce. E.g. make the 'squeezer'
part of the combine.


I've done some more looking specifically wrt to grain sorghum as
feedstock vis a vis corn and discover my perceptions were based on my
past knowledge regarding feed value more than current state of ethanol
production. In an summary assessment done by a KSU researcher, the
difference in grain feedstock is actually nearly immaterial to the
overall NEV and only a factor economically based on the actual
price--grain sorghum w/ it's historic discount as opposed to corn is
actually somewhat of a benefit. The major difference (and what confused
me) in NEV between, say, 1995 and present is not nearly as much
attributable to the feedstock as it is essentially all owing to
enhancements in the process itself.

What is apparently a limiting factor for ethanol may well be how to
generate sufficient market for the byproducts which are necessary to be
sold in order to make the profitability of the producing plants. The
distillers grains are feed for livestock but it appears there may become
a point at which there can not be sufficient demand for all that would
be produced.
  #209   Report Post  
Mark & Juanita
 
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On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 17:11:53 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On 4 Jul 2005 12:01:09 -0700, the opaque
clearly wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:
"How can we make our point with so little data to go on? Aha, make the
increments so small the data (with which we want to scare folks) is
off the charts!" Oh, and "Let's estimate data about 10x longer than
we have ANY data for.)


.... snip

Recommendation for Chicken Littles: Read Michael Crichton's book
"State of Fear" for both a great story and an excellent reference
work with detailed bibliography for further research. It will give
you a whole new perspective, I guarantee!


Fiction or non-Fiction?


Fiction, but he states up front that ALL the data supplied is real and
he supports that with references in the back of the book, including
books, websites, published paper references, etc. If you think the
world is melting and we're all gonna die, I strongly suggest you read
that book tomorrow. Here are a couple links:

http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/ghcn/ghcn.html
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/station_data/
The data for Punta Arenas (the closest station to Antarctica) shows a
mean 0.5C drop in temps between 1888 and 2005. It's getting COLDER!
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/gistemp_station.py?id=304859340004&data_set=1&num_ neighbors=1



Having read some of the news regarding the G8 summit, as well as some of
various accounts on www.numberwatch.co.uk, a rather interesting premise
for a science fiction story struck me. When you look at what the UK and
some of the other European nations are attempting to get Bush to agree to
regarding agreements regarding global climate change, he is not being asked
to ascribe to a political agreement backed by strong science so much as he
is being asked to sign a doctrinal statement agreeing that he and his
country "believe" in global warming and that humans are the cause for this
impending disaster. Couple that with the proposal by the UK to cut its CO2
emissions by 60% over the next decade, and to issue all citizens a "carbon
allowance" as well as the various little "sacrifices" the citizenry is
being asked to perform, many said sacrifices having no real impact upon
overall energy use, (for example, unplugging the VCR rather than letting it
run in standby mode) but getting the citizenry to "buy into doing their
part". An interesting plot for a time in the future when the world is
dominated by the green religion whose high priests regulate the lives of
the average citizens who have been reduced to living in hovels and living a
pre-industrial lifestyle. The high priests of the religion live in
sparkling compounds, high on the hills and who possess all manner of
"magic" with which to assure compliance of the peasants with their lot in
life. Various rituals are practiced by which the average people are
indoctrinated with the knowledge that they are only a blight upon the
planet and that only by following the will of the Green Priests will they
be granted suffrance by the planet to live out their lives in quiet
submission and meager consumption.





+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
  #210   Report Post  
 
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Larry Jaques wrote:
On 4 Jul 2005 12:01:09 -0700, the opaque
clearly wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:
"How can we make our point with so little data to go on? Aha, make the
increments so small the data (with which we want to scare folks) is
off the charts!" Oh, and "Let's estimate data about 10x longer than
we have ANY data for.)


SPLORF! I realize that is not your only criticism but it is hilarious
that you would base ANY criticism on the tic spacing on the temeprature
axis. If they spaced the tics 10 degrees apart the plot would look the
same, it would just be harder to convert the picture to numbers.


Graph range has been used to hide data more than once, bubba.


Sure, had the authore chosen a range from, say -100 C to + 100 C the
chart would be inscrutable. As it is, the range appears tobe
chosen as any sensible person would, to fit the data on the page
within comfortable margins.

BTW, why'd you change the subject from tic-spacing to range? Perhaps
you DO realize the tic spacing is arbitrary, just like the choice
of origin?

Here
they go the opposite direction to support falsehoods and hysteria.


The graph in question looks to me to have bene prepared for some
sort of dog and pony show. If it was created by a climatologist
in the first place, I'll bet it was created to show to reporters
and politicians (and also bet that they didn't understand it anyways.)

It has been over a decade since I last attended a coloquium given
by a climatologist. At that time predictions were being made based
on climate models--not by looking at a graph and imagining it extended
beyond the right margin.

For example, this fellow (sorry I do not remember his name) explained
that one of the objections to a Kyoto type agreement (this was
before Kyoto) came about because some models predicted that average
annual rainfall in Siberia would decrease over about the next fifty
years but then increase over the following 100. So the Soviets
(this was back when there were still Soviets) were concerned about
not stabilizing global change at a time when Siberia was near the
dryest part of the expected changes.

Note also that Siberia getting drier for fifty years and then
getting wetter for a hunderd years after is a nonlinear change.
The prediction was not being made by simply extending a plot.

People who write as if the predictions made by climatologists
are based on extrapolating from dog and pony show style visual
aids a

1) Not very honest.
or
2) Not very bright.
or
3) Have been misled by people fitting 1) and/or 2) above.

I've never worked on a Climate model but have no doubt that
Climatologists rely on tried and true statistical methods
to fit data to their models and to made predictions from
those models just like any other scientist.

If they underestimate the uncertainties in their data, or
overestimate the degrees of freedom in their models their
reduced chi-squares will be too small, just like they were
when Gregor Mendel's data were fitted to his theory. (Not
by Mendel himself, he didn't do chi squares). While Mendel's
theory of genetics overestimated the degrees of freedom, his
data fit modern genetic theory quite well.

If someone has a scientifically valid theory, they will have
the math to support it. The same is true for a scientifically
valid criticism of a theory.

If instead, their criticism is that the tic spacing on a graph
is too close, well, that conclusion is left as an exercise for
the reader.

--

FF



  #212   Report Post  
 
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On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 10:28:04 -0500, Duane Bozarth
wrote:

wrote:

Duane Bozarth wrote:
wrote:


Ethanol is better deal to date...

Made from corn? I have been wondering if it would not be better to
use sorghum, which grows well over much of the same range as corn,
for producing the sugar used to make ethanol.

Primarily corn, yes. Sorghum doesn't have nearly the sugar content of
corn and nowhere nor the yield/acre.

I gather that the suagar/acre ration is lower for sorghum. I'm
not surprised that the corn kernals have a higher concentration
of sugar than the sorghum stalks but am surpised that there is
more sugar in the whole corn plant, than in the whole sorghum plant.
When corn is raised for ethanol production, do they squeeze the
whole plant, rather than just the kernals?

No, the grain is the feedstock, not the plant...the grain must ripen to
achiece maximum energy content (and as a secondary necessity, must be
dry enough to be handled and stored w/o danger of mold damage and
spontaneous combustion) and at that time the sugars in the foliage are
largely used up.


I'm surprised ther eis more sugar in corn kernals than in the entire
sorghum plant. I'm not clear on why the grain is stored at all. It
seems ot me it would be more efficient to continuously process it
as it is harvested and just tank the jiuce. E.g. make the 'squeezer'
part of the combine.


I've done some more looking specifically wrt to grain sorghum as
feedstock vis a vis corn and discover my perceptions were based on my
past knowledge regarding feed value more than current state of ethanol
production. In an summary assessment done by a KSU researcher, the
difference in grain feedstock is actually nearly immaterial to the
overall NEV and only a factor economically based on the actual
price--grain sorghum w/ it's historic discount as opposed to corn is
actually somewhat of a benefit. The major difference (and what confused
me) in NEV between, say, 1995 and present is not nearly as much
attributable to the feedstock as it is essentially all owing to
enhancements in the process itself.

What is apparently a limiting factor for ethanol may well be how to
generate sufficient market for the byproducts which are necessary to be
sold in order to make the profitability of the producing plants. The
distillers grains are feed for livestock but it appears there may become
a point at which there can not be sufficient demand for all that would
be produced.




after the sugars have been fermented into alcohol, what's left is
mostly cellulose, right?

make it into MDF.
  #213   Report Post  
Mark & Juanita
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 5 Jul 2005 15:51:36 -0700, wrote:



Larry Jaques wrote:
On 4 Jul 2005 12:01:09 -0700, the opaque

clearly wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:
"How can we make our point with so little data to go on? Aha, make the
increments so small the data (with which we want to scare folks) is
off the charts!" Oh, and "Let's estimate data about 10x longer than
we have ANY data for.)

SPLORF! I realize that is not your only criticism but it is hilarious
that you would base ANY criticism on the tic spacing on the temeprature
axis. If they spaced the tics 10 degrees apart the plot would look the
same, it would just be harder to convert the picture to numbers.


Graph range has been used to hide data more than once, bubba.


Sure, had the authore chosen a range from, say -100 C to + 100 C the
chart would be inscrutable. As it is, the range appears tobe
chosen as any sensible person would, to fit the data on the page
within comfortable margins.

BTW, why'd you change the subject from tic-spacing to range? Perhaps
you DO realize the tic spacing is arbitrary, just like the choice
of origin?


When the @#$% was the subject ever tic spacing? The issue is the
represented data and the range of the data that is based upon very gross
observables being used to predict global average temperature fluctuations
based upon ice core samples, tree ring size, and contemporary cultural
documentation going back the past millennia. Those gross measurements
(again, which could be influenced by more than just temperature) were then
used to compute numbers with very small predicted increments. The
precision presented is not the precision that one would expect from such
gross measures. Had you explored the web site at which you found the
chart, you would have found that this was a conclusion from a paper by Mann
in 1998 that used the data that was summarized in that chart to predict
future global warming. The paper by Mann is one of the keystones of the
global warming adherents (not just a dog and pony show chart). The chart
is simply a summary of the Mann's "research" and conclusions. There are
numerous objections to Mann's methods and his refusal to turn over *all*
of his data or algorithms http://www.climateaudit.org/index.php?p=234
despite being funded by the NSF. Further, problems with his methodology
are documented in http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/2003%20October.htm#bathtub
as well as other areas on the site. He deliberately omitted data that
corresponded to a midiaeval warm period, thus making his predictions for
the future look like the largest jump in history. Again, even if this
chart was only for consumption by politicians and policy makers, it was a
deliberately distorted conclusion that could only be intended to engender a
specific response regarding global warming. In order to get his infamous
2.5C temperature rise prediction, he used trend of the numbers to pad the
data fit rather than padding with the mean of the data. (again documented
on the numberwatch page).

Here
they go the opposite direction to support falsehoods and hysteria.


The graph in question looks to me to have bene prepared for some
sort of dog and pony show. If it was created by a climatologist
in the first place, I'll bet it was created to show to reporters
and politicians (and also bet that they didn't understand it anyways.)


.... and if it was so created, it was created in order to drive a specific
conclusion and input to direct public policy. That is not a trivial, wave
your hands and dismiss-it kind of action. The politicians who used it
certainly understood the conclusions that Mann was trying to assert. The
fact that he omitted the medieval warm period further indicates that this
was not a harmless use of the data from an innocent scientist.


It has been over a decade since I last attended a coloquium given
by a climatologist. At that time predictions were being made based
on climate models--not by looking at a graph and imagining it extended
beyond the right margin.


Where do you think that climatologists get the bases for their climate
models? Where do you think they get data that they can use to fine-tune
those models and validate them?



For example, this fellow (sorry I do not remember his name) explained
that one of the objections to a Kyoto type agreement (this was
before Kyoto) came about because some models predicted that average
annual rainfall in Siberia would decrease over about the next fifty
years but then increase over the following 100. So the Soviets
(this was back when there were still Soviets) were concerned about
not stabilizing global change at a time when Siberia was near the
dryest part of the expected changes.


So, since it's been over a decade, were their models correct? Has
rainfall in Siberia been decreasing? From a quick perusal of the web, it
appears that significant flooding has occurred in Siberia in recent years
due to heavy rains as well as spring melt.


Note also that Siberia getting drier for fifty years and then
getting wetter for a hunderd years after is a nonlinear change.
The prediction was not being made by simply extending a plot.


No, it was made by running a computer model. Do you know what goes into
computer models and simulations? Do you have any idea how much data and
effort is required to get a computer model to make predictions that are
reliable? I do; as I mentioned before, I've been involved in the area of
development, and integration & test for a considerable time. I know how
difficult it is to get a model to generate accurate predictions even when I
have control of a significant proportion of the test environment. To
believe that climatologists have the ability to generate models that
predict the future performance of such a complex system as the Earth's
climate yet cannot predict even short term with any significant degree of
accuracy is a stretch of epic proportions to say the least.


People who write as if the predictions made by climatologists
are based on extrapolating from dog and pony show style visual
aids a

1) Not very honest.
or
2) Not very bright.
or
3) Have been misled by people fitting 1) and/or 2) above.


People who think that climatologists who generate such charts are not
attempting to influence policy and opinion are
1) Not very honest
2) Not very bright
3) Have mislead themselves into believing that said climatologists are
simply objective scientists publishing reduced graphs that are being used
for purposes that they did not envision.

That Mann does not fall under the title of naive scientist can be found
in http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20030825-090130-5881r.htm



I've never worked on a Climate model but have no doubt that
Climatologists rely on tried and true statistical methods
to fit data to their models and to made predictions from
those models just like any other scientist.


Very well, and where are these climatologists getting *their* data to
validate their models? Generating models is easy, generating models that
produce accurate results is not.

If they underestimate the uncertainties in their data, or
overestimate the degrees of freedom in their models their
reduced chi-squares will be too small, just like they were
when Gregor Mendel's data were fitted to his theory. (Not
by Mendel himself, he didn't do chi squares). While Mendel's
theory of genetics overestimated the degrees of freedom, his
data fit modern genetic theory quite well.

If someone has a scientifically valid theory, they will have
the math to support it. The same is true for a scientifically
valid criticism of a theory.


Statistics does *not* make the math for a model. Statistics can be used
to validate the precision, or distribution of outcomes of a model run in a
Monte-Carlo sense, comparing the dispersion of the monte-carlo runs to the
dispersion of real data, but that assumes one has sufficient real data with
which to perform such a comparison and that the diversity of the variables
being modified in the model are sufficiently represented in the data set to
which the model is being compared. If all one is relying upon to predict
future events is past data being statistically processed, one has done
nothing beyond glorified curve fitting and extrapolation beyond the data
set. The real math behind models and simulations should be the
first-principals physics and chemistry that are properly applied to the
problem being modeled. Therein lies the rub, there are so many variables
and degrees of freedom (in a true modeling definition of that phrase), that
validating the first principals models to the degree that one could trust a
model to predict future climate changes is, at this time, insufficient.
Using such models in making public policy that can have devastating
economical effects upon peoples' lives would be a travesty. Finally, even
given that you have climatalogical models that have some degree of
precision, there is still the pesky problem of proving that human activity
is to blame for the phenomena being observed as root cause changes to the
future climate predictions.



If instead, their criticism is that the tic spacing on a graph
is too close, well, that conclusion is left as an exercise for
the reader.


Your statement above indicates that either you don't get it, or are being
deliberately obtuse regarding the referenced paper and the infamous "hockey
stick" chart. Think of it this way, the chart shown is the equivalent to
the final output from one of your revered climatologist's models that
predicts global average temperature will increase by 2.5C per decade
(Mann's original paper apparently stated 1C per decade, but the number was
later revised to 2.5C). This is the equivalent to your climatologists'
model prediction that rain in Siberia would decrease over the next 50
years, then increase over the next 100.


Fred, this is my last post on this subject, as it is clear that a) you
really don't get it and b) for all of your feigned objectivity and previous
comments upon how you take an objective view of all sides and then look at
the available, data; you have shown that you look at that data only from a
particular worldview. You are welcome to the last word, I have better
things to do with my time.



+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
  #214   Report Post  
George
 
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wrote in message
...


after the sugars have been fermented into alcohol, what's left is
mostly cellulose, right?

make it into MDF.


Cellulose is sugar. Breaking it up might be useful.



  #215   Report Post  
Duane Bozarth
 
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George wrote:

wrote in message
...


after the sugars have been fermented into alcohol, what's left is
mostly cellulose, right?

make it into MDF.


Cellulose is sugar. Breaking it up might be useful.


I think there is where the NEV would go negative...but I've not looked
into the chemical process balance in depth as yet.


  #217   Report Post  
George E. Cawthon
 
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Duane Bozarth wrote:
George wrote:

wrote in message
. ..


after the sugars have been fermented into alcohol, what's left is
mostly cellulose, right?

make it into MDF.


Cellulose is sugar. Breaking it up might be useful.



I think there is where the NEV would go negative...but I've not looked
into the chemical process balance in depth as yet.


The easiest way to break up the cellulose is to
feed it to cows. Nothing negative to that; the
cows make it into milk or beefsteak.

  #218   Report Post  
Duane Bozarth
 
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"George E. Cawthon" wrote:

Duane Bozarth wrote:
George wrote:

wrote in message
. ..


after the sugars have been fermented into alcohol, what's left is
mostly cellulose, right?

make it into MDF.

Cellulose is sugar. Breaking it up might be useful.



I think there is where the NEV would go negative...but I've not looked
into the chemical process balance in depth as yet.


The easiest way to break up the cellulose is to
feed it to cows. Nothing negative to that; the
cows make it into milk or beefsteak.


That is what is done w/ it at present--the suggestion was to process it
further chemically as part of the ethanol extraction process--and that
process is what would be more energy in than additional out.

As noted earlier, it's likely in my estimation that a limiting factor in
the economics of biofuels will be the saturation of markets for the
secondary products unless major new/additional usages can be
created/found.
  #219   Report Post  
George
 
Posts: n/a
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"Duane Bozarth" wrote in message
...

Cellulose is sugar. Breaking it up might be useful.


I think there is where the NEV would go negative...but I've not looked
into the chemical process balance in depth as yet.


The easiest way to break up the cellulose is to
feed it to cows. Nothing negative to that; the
cows make it into milk or beefsteak.


That is what is done w/ it at present--the suggestion was to process it
further chemically as part of the ethanol extraction process--and that
process is what would be more energy in than additional out.

As noted earlier, it's likely in my estimation that a limiting factor in
the economics of biofuels will be the saturation of markets for the
secondary products unless major new/additional usages can be
created/found.


Well, no. Suggestion of digestion by the same bacteria that fill the gut of
the ungulates to yield methane would be more appropriate.


  #220   Report Post  
Duane Bozarth
 
Posts: n/a
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George wrote:

"Duane Bozarth" wrote in message
...

Cellulose is sugar. Breaking it up might be useful.


I think there is where the NEV would go negative...but I've not looked
into the chemical process balance in depth as yet.

The easiest way to break up the cellulose is to
feed it to cows. Nothing negative to that; the
cows make it into milk or beefsteak.


That is what is done w/ it at present--the suggestion was to process it
further chemically as part of the ethanol extraction process--and that
process is what would be more energy in than additional out.

As noted earlier, it's likely in my estimation that a limiting factor in
the economics of biofuels will be the saturation of markets for the
secondary products unless major new/additional usages can be
created/found.


Well, no. Suggestion of digestion by the same bacteria that fill the gut of
the ungulates to yield methane would be more appropriate.


That would be called a "cow"...

Sorry, I misinterpreted your first suggestion...


  #221   Report Post  
Dave Mundt
 
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Greetings and Salutation...
On 30 Jun 2005 15:36:49 GMT, Dave Hinz wrote:

On 30 Jun 2005 11:05:23 -0400, Roy Smith wrote:
Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
That's a big drop with AC. Both my cars have 3.8 liter engines and the
difference is no more than 1 mpg. Neither gets 42 mpg and struggle to get
30 on all highway


I believe most cars get better mileage on the highway with the AC
turned on and the windows closed than with the AC off and the windows
open. The added aerodynamic drag introduced by opening the windows is
worse than turning the AC on.


Mythbusters just did this one, actually. Two identical vehicles, one
with AC on, the other with the windows open. It was a Ford Expedition,
which is hardly an example of an aerodynamic, efficient vehicle, but
they found that the one with the A/C ran out of gas first, by a few
percent. I don't have exact numbers, but google might.

This might be vastly different with a more aerodynamic vehicle, where
the aerodynamic change made by opening the windows takes it from "good"
to "bad", rather than from "bad" to "more bad".

Way I look at it, I'll run the A/C and be a bit more comfortable, either
way.


Yea, I saw that episode, and, I think that the BIG issue there
was that they were driving at a fairly low speed. They were limited
to 45 MPH, and, at that rate, I am not sure that the drag would make
a difference. It ALSO might well have been the vehicles. I recall
a sedan from some years ago that got about 15% better gasoline mileage
when driving at interstate speeds, with the A/C on. This was kind
of surprising to me, but, we ran several cycles of testing over tanks
of gasoline, and, it was quite consistant.
Another factor is that the blast of wind through the windows
can be PRETTY irritating after a bit...I much prefer the low hum of
the A/C fans.
Regards
Dave Mundt

  #222   Report Post  
 
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Note followups. Please remove rec.woodworking from follow-ups.

Larry Jaques wrote:
On 5 Jul 2005 15:51:36 -0700, the opaque
clearly wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:
Graph range has been used to hide data more than once, bubba.


Sure, had the authore chosen a range from, say -100 C to + 100 C the
chart would be inscrutable.


frown Oh, never mind. big sigh


Uh, what is bothering you? If you think some feature of the chart
was selected to deceive, why not point it out instead of making
ambiguous general statements that don't look to be relevant
to THIS particular plot?



As it is, the range appears tobe
chosen as any sensible person would, to fit the data on the page
within comfortable margins.

BTW, why'd you change the subject from tic-spacing to range? Perhaps
you DO realize the tic spacing is arbitrary, just like the choice
of origin?


Would the range of the chart on a page be the same with smaller
increments,


No, that's why I don;t understand how you sent from 'increments'
to range, eithout explaining what aspect of either you though had
been jiggered deceptively.

Fred? I didn't change the subject, you merely found a
way to argue semantics. But, hey, if you want to Chicken Little it,
feel free. Gotcher tinfoil headgear?


Perhaps you can make a criticism that addresses specific features
of the plot so somebody other than yourself can tell WTF it is to
which you refer?

Is your opinion is the range too large or too small?

Which and why? What range do you think would be proper?

To what 'increments' do you refer, and what 'increment size'
do you think would be proper?


--snip--

If instead, their criticism is that the tic spacing on a graph
is too close, well, that conclusion is left as an exercise for
the reader.


One of many criticisms. EOF, bubba.


THAT one is plainly meaningless. How about some others?

--

FF

  #223   Report Post  
 
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Note followups. Please remove rec.woodworking from the distribution.

Executive summary: I'm skeptical that hte "hockey stick" plot
has any predictive value. But if it does, that will be totally
dominated by the most recent data, temperatures a hundred
years ago or more are all but irrelevant.

Mark & Juanita wrote:
On 5 Jul 2005 15:51:36 -0700, wrote:



Larry Jaques wrote:
On 4 Jul 2005 12:01:09 -0700, the opaque

clearly wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:
"How can we make our point with so little data to go on? Aha, make the
increments so small the data (with which we want to scare folks) is
off the charts!" Oh, and "Let's estimate data about 10x longer than
we have ANY data for.)

SPLORF! I realize that is not your only criticism but it is hilarious
that you would base ANY criticism on the tic spacing on the temeprature
axis. If they spaced the tics 10 degrees apart the plot would look the
same, it would just be harder to convert the picture to numbers.

Graph range has been used to hide data more than once, bubba.


Sure, had the authore chosen a range from, say -100 C to + 100 C the
chart would be inscrutable. As it is, the range appears tobe
chosen as any sensible person would, to fit the data on the page
within comfortable margins.

BTW, why'd you change the subject from tic-spacing to range? Perhaps
you DO realize the tic spacing is arbitrary, just like the choice
of origin?


When the @#$% was the subject ever tic spacing?


When Larry Jaques wrote:
"How can we make our point with so little data
to go on? Aha, make the increments so small
the data (with which we want to scare folks) is
off the charts!"

I thought he was referring to the tic spacing as 'increments'.
If not, perhaps he or you could identify at least one (1) such
'increment' such as by showing me the endopints.

The issue is the
represented data and the range of the data that is based upon very gross
observables being used to predict global average temperature fluctuations
based upon ice core samples, tree ring size, and contemporary cultural
documentation going back the past millennia. Those gross measurements
(again, which could be influenced by more than just temperature) were then
used to compute numbers with very small predicted increments. The
precision presented is not the precision that one would expect from such
gross measures. Had you explored the web site at which you found the
chart, you would have found that this was a conclusion from a paper by Mann
in 1998 that used the data that was summarized in that chart to predict
future global warming.


No I would not have found that because
that website was not written by Mann.
If I want to know what Bush said in
his state of the Union Message I go
to
www.whitehouse.gov, not moveon.org.
If I want to know what Mann says about
the plot, I'll consult HIS writing.


The paper by Mann is one of the keystones of the
global warming adherents (not just a dog and pony show chart). The chart
is simply a summary of the Mann's "research" and conclusions.


A chart that is simply a summary
of someone's research and conclusions
is, by definiton, a dog and pony
show style chart. Furthermore,
if any chart is a keystone in the
argument for Global Warming it
is this:

http://www.oar.noaa.gov/organization...ers/cmdl_2.gif
from
http://www.oar.noaa.gov/organization...ders/cmdl.html


There are
numerous objections to Mann's methods and his refusal to turn over *all*
of his data or algorithms http://www.climateaudit.org/index.php?p=234
despite being funded by the NSF.


Nothing there appears to have
been posted by Mann.

Data destruction is a serious
problem that pervades scientific
society today. Obviously there
is good reason to keep data
proprietary to the reasercher
for a reasonable period of time.
For the HST, that is ten years.
But scientists (civil servants)
working in Geophysics for NASA
and NOAAA, typically keep their
data proprietary forever and may
(often do) deliberately destroy
it after their papers are published.

Of course there is no honest
rational reason to destroy data
once the researcher is through
with his own analysis and publication.
No benefit accrues to the individual
researcher, to science or to humanity
from that destruction. The downside
is obvious, opportunity to learn
more from the data is lost. The upside
is completely nonexistant. Yet that
appalling practice persists.


As for his algorithms, the algorithms
ARE the science, if he didn't publish
his algorithms, he didn't publish anything
of value.

This, er discussion, reminds me of
something written by Tolkien
in his forward to _The Lord of the
Rings_: "Some who have read the
book, or at any rate have reviewed
it, have found it to be..."

Tolkien understood that some people
would not let a minor detail like not
having read something interfere with
their criticism and support of it. I
can't find Mann's own description of
the plot online so *I* do not know what
it is meant to portray. I'll
take a couple of educated guesses below.

Further, problems with his methodology
are documented in http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/2003%20October.htm#bathtub
as well as other areas on the site. He deliberately omitted data that
corresponded to a midiaeval warm period, thus making his predictions for
the future look like the largest jump in history.


The anonymous author(s) of that
webpage have not released their data
either, have they? Keeping that
in mind, let's take a look at the
"hockey stick" graph and compare
it to the "bathtub graph".

The data may be divided into three
ranges based on the error bar size.
The first range, on the left, has
the largest error bars, roughly
plus/minus 0.5 degrees abd extebds
from c AD 1000 to c AD 1625.
The second range extends from circa
AD 1625 to c AD 1920 and looks to
have error bars of about 0.3 degrees.
The third region, beginning c AD 1920
and extending to the present time
looks to have error bars of maybe 0.1
degree. Actually there is fourth region,
appearing to the right of AD 2000 that
does not appear to have any error bars
at all. That defies explanation since
it post-dates the publication of the
paper and were it a prediction, one
would expect uncertainties in the predicted
temperatures to be plotted long with
the predicted temperatures temselves.

It also seems reasonable to presume that
the most recent data are by far the most numerous
and those on the extreme left, the most sparse.

I think that one of your criticisms
is that the error bars toward the
left of the chart are too small.
Now, maybe the plot just shows data
after some degree of processing. For
example, each point may represent a
ten-year arithmetic mean of all the
temperature data within that decade,
each point could be a running boxcar
average through the data and so on.
I realy don't know but probably, due
to the data density, each point represents
more than a single observation. E.g.
it is a 'meta' plot. If so the error
bars may simply be standard plus/minus
two sigmas of the standard deviation
to those means. If so, the
the size of the error bars will scale
in inverse proportion to the square root
of the sample size.

That last is not opinion or deception.
That is simple statistical fact. Whether or
not the error bars are the right size (and keep
in mind, we don't even know if they ARE two-sigma)
is a matter than can ONLY be definiteively
settled by arithmetic though people who have
experience with similar data sets may be able
to take an educated guess based on analogy alone.

Of course if my GUESS about what is being plotted
is wrong that may also be totally irrelevant.

But supposing this is a plot of his data
set with the errors bars established by the
numerical precision within the data themelves.

A least squares fit
will be dominated by the data that are most
numerous and those with the lowest uncertainties.
ANY model fitted to those data will be
dominated by the data in the third region to the
extent that data in the second region will only have
a minor effect and those in the first region
may have a negligible efect.

So since the data that are numerous and precise are
the data from the third range, which show a rapid rise
in temperature, ANY model that is fitted to those data
will be dominated by the characteristics of that
data range. Given the steep upward slope of the data
in that third region it is hard to imagine how,
underestimating the errors in the earlier data would
actually reduce the estimated future temperature rise
extrapolated from that model.

What if the data out in that earlier flat region were
biased? What if they really should be lower or higher?
Again, that would have little effect on a madel fitted
to the entire data range for precisely the same reasons.

So, what if the 'bathtub' plot data are more accurate?
They still will surely lack the precision and density of
the modern data and so still will have little effect on
any model parameters fitted to the data set.

To the untrained eye, the 'bathtub' plot looks VERY
different from the 'hockey stick' plot but both
would produce a similar result when fitting a model
that includes the third data range.

Finally, there is a useful statistical
parameter called the reduced chi square
of the fit to the model that is indicative
of whether or not errors none's data have
been estimated properly. Simply stated,
if the have, the value will be near
unity. If they have not, the value will
be above or below unity depending on whether
the uncertainties were over or underestimated.

Gregor Mendel, long after his death, was first
accused of culling his data, then exhonerated
on the basis of statistics drawn from his data.
(Note, this was only possible because his data
were saved, not destroyed) The key mistake made
by his critic was over-estimating the degrees
of freedom.


Again, even if this
chart was only for consumption by politicians and policy makers, it was a
deliberately distorted conclusion


How is the _chart_ a conclusion? If you refer
to the points to the right of AD 2000 as a
conclusion, how do you show they are not
properly extrapolated from the model?


that could only be intended to engender a
specific response regarding global warming. In order to get his infamous
2.5C temperature rise prediction, he used trend of the numbers to pad the
data fit rather than padding with the mean of the data. (again documented
on the numberwatch page).


Documented how? I can't even find the _word_ "pad" on that
page?

What the hell do
"used trend of the numbers to pad the data"

and

"padding with the mean of the data."

mean? What the hell is "padding"?

What the page actually tells us
(it doesn't document THAT either
it tells us) is that another
climatologists, Hans von Storch
et all (HVS) using their own model
obtained results that differerd
from Mann, but those differences
were less pronounced if noise
were added to the HVS model.

As the numberwatch author notes,
as more noise is added the
long term variability in the
data is reduced. One is inclined
to say "Doh!" Adding noise
ALWAYS reduces any measure of
variablilty in a data set.

Mann's data set may exhibit less
noise becuase he has more data,
or maybe he also added noise into
his analysis to bring his reduced
chi squares to unity. He ought to
say if he did, and for all I know,
maybe he did.



Here
they go the opposite direction to support falsehoods and hysteria.


The graph in question looks to me to have been prepared for some
sort of dog and pony show. If it was created by a climatologist
in the first place, I'll bet it was created to show to reporters
and politicians (and also bet that they didn't understand it anyways.)


... and if it was so created, it was created in order to drive a specific
conclusion and input to direct public policy. That is not a trivial, wave
your hands and dismiss-it kind of action. The politicians who used it
certainly understood the conclusions that Mann was trying to assert. The
fact that he omitted the medieval warm period further indicates that this
was not a harmless use of the data from an innocent scientist.


As noted above, data from medieval
times are not going to affect a fit to a
model unless, contrary to reason, they
are weighted equally with the modern
data that are far more numerous and
undoubtably more accurate.




It has been over a decade since I last attended a coloquium given
by a climatologist. At that time predictions were being made based
on climate models--not by looking at a graph and imagining it extended
beyond the right margin.


Where do you think that climatologists get the bases for their climate
models? Where do you think they get data that they can use to fine-tune
those models and validate them?


Why do you ask those questions? You indicated you already
know the answers. All I am saying is that the question of
whetehr or not the exisiting data base is large and precise
engough to jsutify a prediction is a mathematical question.
A criticism of the prediction without math is just blowing
smoke, no better than a predition make without any mathmatical
modeling.




For example, this fellow (sorry I do not remember his name) explained
that one of the objections to a Kyoto type agreement (this was
before Kyoto) came about because some models predicted that average
annual rainfall in Siberia would decrease over about the next fifty
years but then increase over the following 100. So the Soviets
(this was back when there were still Soviets) were concerned about
not stabilizing global change at a time when Siberia was near the
dryest part of the expected changes.


So, since it's been over a decade, were their models correct?


Irrelevant. The point is that a simple linear regression does
not have inflection points.

....


Note also that Siberia getting drier for fifty years and then
getting wetter for a hunderd years after is a nonlinear change.
The prediction was not being made by simply extending a plot.


No, it was made by running a computer model. Do you know what goes into
computer models and simulations? Do you have any idea how much data and
effort is required to get a computer model to make predictions that are
reliable?


Yes. I 'turn the crank' every day and
twice on Sundays on data sets
that include tens of thousands
of observations for medium precision
orbit determination and similar
work. We emphatically do not determine
where a satellite will be tomorrow
by simply extrapolating from where
it was today.

I do; as I mentioned before, I've been involved in the area of
development, and integration & test for a considerable time. I know how
difficult it is to get a model to generate accurate predictions even when I
have control of a significant proportion of the test environment. To
believe that climatologists have the ability to generate models that
predict the future performance of such a complex system as the Earth's
climate yet cannot predict even short term with any significant degree of
accuracy is a stretch of epic proportions to say the least.


Nature presents numerous examples
where short-term variablity
obscures long-term trends. Take
geodetic measurements for example.
The long term movement over thousands
of years can be readily
determied by geological data, but
that long term movement is
punctuated with short-term seismic
events that, over the time
frame of an hour are orders of
magnitude larger making the short-term
prediction completely wrong.

Solar astronmers can better predict
the average sunspot number over
the next year than they can for
a dya three dyas from now.

A weatherman can better predict
annual rainfall for next year than
he can how much it will rain next week.

My physical condition a hundred years
from now is much easier to predict
than my physical condition ten years from now.

There are many areas in nature in
which short-term prediction due to
variability is far more difficult
than the long term.

Let's go back to the cornerstone
of global warming, the atmospheric
Carbon Dioxide data. The temperature
of a body is constant when the rate
at which it loses energy is the same
as the rate at which it receives energy.
The three largest sources of energy
for the Earth, by far, are radioactive
decay, dissipationnof tidal energy,
and insolation. We have no significant
influence on the first two. There
are but two significant ways the Earth
loses energy, tidal dissipation and
radiative cooling. Again, we have
no influence on the former.

We have no influence on the natural
variation in the solar 'constant'.
But direct sampling of the
atmosphere makes it clear beyond
all doubt that we can influence
the Earth's albedo. We can, and
do change the balance in the
radiative transfer of energy
between the Earth and the rest of
the Universe. There is no question
that the short term effect
meaning over a century or so,
of the introduction of more
greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere
will be a temperature rise, absent
other confounding factors.
That is predicted not by any
climate model but by the law
of the conservation of energy.

There may be confounding factors
that will counteract that temperature
rise. But unless it can be demonstrated
that there are such
factors and they are countering the
effect of greenhouse gasses it
is not a question of if we can
observe the change. It is a question
only of how soon we will be able to.

It won't shock me if we cannot see
a trend yet. That non-observation
will not disprove the law of the
conservation of energy. Wht remains
crucial is determining the magnitude
of _other_ influences on Global
Temperature and how the Earth
responds to all of them.

....

People who think that climatologists who generate such charts are not
attempting to influence policy and opinion are
1) Not very honest
2) Not very bright
3) Have mislead themselves into believing that said climatologists are
simply objective scientists publishing reduced graphs that are being used
for purposes that they did not envision.


What would their motive be?


That Mann does not fall under the title of naive scientist can be found
in http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20030825-090130-5881r.htm


Your commentary is at least as impressive as
any commentary read in the Washington Times.
Hell, you probably at least know some math and
science, I'm less than confident of the same
for the editorial staff of the Washington Times.



I've never worked on a Climate model but have no doubt that
Climatologists rely on tried and true statistical methods
to fit data to their models and to made predictions from
those models just like any other scientist.


Very well, and where are these climatologists getting *their* data to
validate their models? Generating models is easy, generating models that
produce accurate results is not.


You've indicated a variety of sources yourself, so why ask?


If they underestimate the uncertainties in their data, or
overestimate the degrees of freedom in their models their
reduced chi-squares will be too small, just like they were
when Gregor Mendel's data were fitted to his theory. (Not
by Mendel himself, he didn't do chi squares). While Mendel's
theory of genetics overestimated the degrees of freedom, his
data fit modern genetic theory quite well.

If someone has a scientifically valid theory, they will have
the math to support it. The same is true for a scientifically
valid criticism of a theory.


Statistics does *not* make the math for a model. Statistics can be used
to validate the precision, or distribution of outcomes of a model run in a
Monte-Carlo sense, comparing the dispersion of the monte-carlo runs to the
dispersion of real data, but that assumes one has sufficient real data with
which to perform such a comparison and that the diversity of the variables
being modified in the model are sufficiently represented in the data set to
which the model is being compared.


If one's real data are insuficent in quality
or qwuantity this will result
in large uncertainties in the predictions.

If all one is relying upon to predict
future events is past data being statistically processed, one has done
nothing beyond glorified curve fitting and extrapolation beyond the data
set.


I quite agree. Of Course, I have no idea if that is what Mann
did, or not.


The real math behind models and simulations should be the
first-principals physics and chemistry that are properly applied to the
problem being modeled. Therein lies the rub, there are so many variables
and degrees of freedom (in a true modeling definition of that phrase), that
validating the first principals models to the degree that one could trust a
model to predict future climate changes is, at this time, insufficient.


Agreed.



If instead, their criticism is that the tic spacing on a graph
is too close, well, that conclusion is left as an exercise for
the reader.


Your statement above indicates that either you don't get it, or are being
deliberately obtuse regarding the referenced paper and the infamous "hockey
stick" chart. Think of it this way, the chart shown is the equivalent to
the final output from one of your revered climatologist's models that
predicts global average temperature will increase by 2.5C per decade


I have no revered climatologists. You earlier referred to the
chart as a plot of DATA, now you call it 'equivalent to the final
output...' I don't see how data input to a model can be considered
equivalent to the outpur from a model.

As I said before, I haven't read the paper. It appears that neither
have you.

--

FF

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