Idiots

Mark Hoofnagle:

I’m not interested in reducing polarization. I’m interested in making pseudoscience and anti-science ideologues detested for the scum that they are. I am a polarizer, if anything, and purposefully so. When people don’t respond to data, or reason, and they put everyone else at risk as a result of that behavior (HIV/AIDS denial, vaccine denial, global warming denial) the appropriate response is to shame them.

Mark is certainly not a skeptic, and not a scientist. He is an activist. And an idiot.

Even if "global warming denial" were the same thing as HIV/AIDS denial (which is a real problem): It would be good to study the problem rationally, find out what the problems are, what the causes are, and how those "conspiracy nuts" respond positevly to arguments – you know, "do a science" – instead of piling on the idiotic hit-pieces that are passed of as supposed science by the idiot activist Lewandowsky.

No-Regrets Options

Willis Eschenbach rocks:

… These days this same concept is called the “no-regrets option”, a much clearer term but not a rule of thumb. Applied to the vexing CO2 madness, a “no-regrets option” is an action we won’t regret, whether or not CO2 is the secret knob controlling global temperature. I’m convinced CO2 is not, but others disagree. A no-regrets option is one that is of value no matter which side is right. …

Is it safe?

The UEA seems to be much better at losing data than they are at maintaining it.

This is a bad joke. Supposedly this is the most important problem of humanity, and these jolly good chaps think it is their gentleman's game, and that they better keep out the plebs while they go about their business.

Hitting the Proverbial Nail

Steve McIntyre, as always slightly sarcastic, hits the nail on the head:

Mann himself was honored as a new AGU Fellow for his achievements in orientation-neutral and low-verification paleoclimate reconstructions, with special citation to his innovative use of upside-down sediments and success in popularizing reconstructions with verification r2 of 0.

Warning: Contains Gleick.

Save The Poor From Climate Change!

Willis Eschenbach asks "exactly which poor are they supposed to be saving, and from what?"

How To Lie With Statistics – Climate Edition

Willis Eschenbach - Keep doing that and you’ll go blind:

… So it is absolutely unsurprising, and totally lacking in statistical significance, that in a comparison with 28 variables, someone would find that temperature is correlated with one of them at a p-value of 0.05. In fact, it is more likely than not that they would find one with a p-value equal to 0.05.

They thought they found something rare, something to beat skeptics over the head with, but it happens three times out of four. That’s what I found so funny. …

[Update] And of course William M. Briggs has written something on the statistical quality of that paper as well.

How To Lie With Statistics – Climate Edition

Wonderful.