I cannot comfortably express how infuriated I am by this. I was so angry about the demand for a review that I put a campaign together to resist the time-wasting. And now I find that the people who made the demand are so cynical about it they’re not even participating in the process?
*deep breaths*
On the bright side, an ACT-less committee will probably do a better job of engaging with the science, right?
(Man, this turned into week-of-climate-change-posts. Huh.)
Author:
How Science Works
And while I’m talking about this – the Wisharts of the world seem convinced that the massive scientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic global warming is (a) overstated and/or (b) groupthink and/or (c) faked to earn research funding.
Well, in my not inconsiderable personal experience of knowing actual scientists, I have noticed one overarching principle: the chief activity of scientists is taking the piss. In fact, it could fairly be said, urine extraction is fundamental to the scientific development of knowledge.
So here’s a rule of thumb for you: if a proposition has survived the piss-taking efforts of a generation of scientists, there’s probably something to it. AGW has.
(Wishart, sadly, hasn’t.)
Crazy Ol’ Ian Wishart
There’s a very amusing blog-exchange going on between Gareth Renowden of climate blog Hot Topic and Ian Wishart of independent current affairs mag Investigate. It’s on the subject of Wishart’s new book “Con Air”, about how global warming is an unscientific fraud. Renowden tore it to shreds in a review, and predictably Wishart responded; Renowden decided it was simpler not to engage with his nonsense, which got another Wishart response. So Renowden proceeded to dismantle Wishart’s claims, picked up another Wishart response, and then shot that one by showing the research Wishart was talking about actually meant the opposite of what he thought it did.
There are lessons here of course, about how keeping the argument going is a de facto win for the forces that want to stop us from addressing climate change.
There are much bigger lessons here about the fixation of belief and how people like Wishart find themselves adopting the positions they do. (See also.)
But really, I just recommend these for the popcorn value. Wishart is always a laugh when he goes on the attack, which he pretty does when anyone looks at him funny. He calls Gareth “trufflehunter” instead of his name, under the impression that this is an insult; I imagine Gareth, as past president of the NZ Truffle Association, would be quite comfortable with this moniker. (Gareth’s co-blogger is referred to as Quasimodo, which is taken with surprising good grace.)
The argument over whether climate change is anthropogenic ended a few years ago. There’s plenty of science to argue over, but not this. The Ian Wisharts of the world will keep thrashing for a while yet, and to be honest, we should be gentle with them. They’re having a hard time of it, the poor wee things.
Affirmed
That’s the best word I can come up with right now to describe how it feels to see my submission to the climate change committee on the parliament website.
It shows that the effort I went to didn’t just disappear into the aether, never to be seen again.
It shows that my voice has been heard by everyone sitting on that committee. (Not listened to, necessarily, but certainly it has been heard.)
It shows that our democracy has functioning channels of straightforward communication.
It’s a good feeling, actually. I recommend it. Participate.
Bill McKibben and 350
Friday night, I went to a public lecture by Bill McKibben, who is the originator of the 350 movement. This movement is based on the work of top climate scientist Jim Hansen, who has said that atmospheric CO2 levels above 350ppm are not compatible with human civilization. We’re already over that concentration.
Bill was a funny and engaging speaker, well-polished. He spoke about the social justice aspects of climate change – his personal turning point was looking at a crowded ward of shivering victims of Dengue fever and wondering how many of those beds were attributable to the emissions of his home country, the USA. (Answer: a quarter of them.)
It is crucial to get CO2 levels down. Crucial doesn’t even begin to describe it, actually. This is the most important work there is right now. Individual action isn’t enough; we need to achieve a global agreement for a carbon pricing system. Only with a strong price signal can we achieve the change we need in the time we have.
In December, the world meets at Copenhagen to discuss these issues. It is pretty much our last chance to get this global agreement before we’re committed to very dangerous levels of climate change. Bill and 350 are pushing Oct 24 as a global day of action, to send the message to our leaders that we want Copenhagen to deliver. My views on the value of public protest have waxed and waned over the years, but I am optimistic about this day of action. Partly because the 350 crew have thought about this hard and have already had some success at pushing political change; partly because I haven’t heard of any better plan than this.
So, this is a heads-up. I talked about the 350 movement, and the necessity of political leadership, this time a year ago. I’ll be talking about it more over the coming months. This is important.
NZ outpost of the 350 movement.
(Idiot of NRT was also at the talk. We did some plotting and scheming afterwards.)
Video Kid Linky
This one’s gonna be video heavy. Its just how it worked out.
A Sound of Music breakout in Central Station, Antwerp. I’m always a sucker for this stuff.
Cyclist hops his way around Edinburgh. Mindblowing cool on display here. (Presumably they edited out all the bits where cheerful neds called him a homosexual and playfully hurled their empty bottles at him.)
Snakes on a Plane – cuss words edited for TV. (As found by buzzandhum.)
(not video) A great wee wordless comic that is optimised for online reading.
Microsoft Songsmith creates music out of stock charts entering the recession
Flight of the Conchords fan lipsync contest entrants edited together – great fun
Lord of the Rings fan film appears to be raising the bar, judging by this trailer
(not video) Alien vs Predator done right.
And finally… Iron Man vs Bruce Lee. Serious.
Chris Cole Jewellery
Hiya readers – I want to advertise at you a moment, for the usual reason: some friends are up to something I want to support.
Our lovely friend Chris Cole, the jeweller who crafted our wedding rings, is striking out on his own and has launched his own business (aided and abetted by his partner, and our other lovely friend, Anne).
Chris and Anne were marvellous in creating our rings. We worked out the concept together and the realization was amazing – we are so pleased. (I love my ring!)
It’s still very early days for their business – their Flickr stream has precisely one image on it so far, which I’ve posted here – but Chris has been in the jewellery game for a long time, working for others. He’s got a really interesting sense of style and an interest in jewellery for men. I loved this Twitter update: “Making a Man’s brooch today. Bringing back the ‘Bro’-ooch…
So if you’re a bro, or a lady, and you’re in the market for some unique custom-crafted jewellery, give Chris a try at http://www.chriscole.co.nz/
I endorse Chris Cole.
(Extra credit: Chris was also in a crazy metal band once upon a time. I have the CD.)
Blog Weary, Boock
I don’t have the blog motivation at present. Not going to force it; soon enough something will happen that will ignite my outrage-burners and I’ll be typing away furiously before your knee can jerk. But until then, it looks like I’m rolling slow-bloggery styles.
If ever a demonstration was needed of the kindergarten logic of newspaper editors, one need only refer to the ongoing bottle of fun that is the Sunday Star Times – they prominently feature columnist Michael Laws in the Comment section, where he infuriates all the liberal readers by frothing over political correctness; and they hand over the back page of the Sports section to Richard Boock, where he infuriates all the conservative readers by being too politically correct. At first I thought it was a bit odd that the most trendy-liberal voice in the paper was in the Sports section – but of course it isn’t an accident at all. It’s how you maintain some energy in your paper. Its like sending out a wrestling heel to insult the crowd and draw a lot of heat – there’s nothing those wrestling fans like more than a good loud boo-session. It would be endearing if it didn’t have consequences for the national discourse, e.g. the massive rightwards slant of our news-oriented commentariat.
Anyway, this weeks SST Sports section featured a charmer of a Letters section (located under Eric Young’s section, where he reassuringly rails against “the PC clan who stole bullrush“). Simon Lawrence writes about Boock: “who do you think reads your sports section whilst the wife hogs the front few pages? Obviously it may be presumptuous to say we are all married, but perhaps not to say we are red blooded Kiwi blokes who just have a love of sport. Persist with Boock, and you are telling New Zealand, you are looking for a reader profile who is a left wing, liberalist forever searching for his feminine side…”
The next letter is headed Pinko!: “Richard Boock is a pink shirt-wearing, wine-drinking, Green Party supporter who has smoked too many funny cigarettes while carrying his wife’s handbag and should be writing for a women’s mag.” It is attributed to “A synopsis of feedback on www.stuff.co.nz”.
That sounds like an endorsement to me. Which is, sadly, exactly the point.
Right, things to do. Have lovely days everybody.
Lefty surprise!
Here’s a great recipe.
(1) Put ingredients in casserole dish
(2) Heat in oven for a long time at a high heat
(3) Remove from oven, take off lid, smell delicious food
(4) Pick up lid again slightly later, absentmindedly forgetting to wear oven mitt
Surprise! Now you’re left-handed!
(Typed with one hand in icewater.)
Hurry Linky
Got a meeting to get to, but haven’t given linky in an age so want to clear some bookmarks out. I’ve seen many of these in multiple places so apologies if this is all old news. Here goes:
Play sudoku for charity
Urban camouflage
Human behaviour in response to a cute little lost little robot.
NZ’s best investigative journo, Nicky Hager, gets his own site
Neat NYC montage photos
Nonwrestler marks a year of the weekly free mp3 posts – each week highlighting a neat, free choon from somewhere around the nets. This gives me the new music, which I like.
Reggaeton guy Jintero MC has moved to my home city and loves it. So he made a song about it. The video features more bikini babes grinding against local monuments than I customarily encounter, though. [LINK FIXED]
Tim Denee designs twenty covers for The Big Sleep.
And finally… Barack says: you can have my number, baby.