Constant Conservative

I do not know the gentleman whose name appears in the title–but I would like to. He starts out with an intro with which I think we can all agree:

People say “Yes, they destroyed emails, and hid from Freedom of information Acts, and messed with proxies, and fought to keep other scientists’ papers out of the journals … but that doesn’t affect the data, the data is still good.” Which sounds reasonable.

Then he goes to work on the data to see how good it really is. The post is long and complicated at times (as one might find when viewing a person performing trending analysis of numerical data points). However, his conclusion: that the raw data at Darwin, Australia has been severely adjusted for no supportable reason to appear as though temperatures are increasing. In his own words:

Yikes again, double yikes! What on earth justifies that adjustment? How can they do that? We have five different records covering Darwin from 1941 on. They all agree almost exactly. Why adjust them at all? They’ve just added a huge artificial totally imaginary trend to the last half of the raw data! Now it looks like the IPCC diagram in Figure 1, all right … but a six degree per century trend? And in the shape of a regular stepped pyramid climbing to heaven? What’s up with that?

Those, dear friends, are the clumsy fingerprints of someone messing with the data Egyptian style … they are indisputable evidence that the “homogenized” data has been changed to fit someone’s preconceptions about whether the earth is warming.

One thing is clear from this. People who say that “Climategate was only about scientists behaving badly, but the data is OK” are wrong. At least one part of the data is bad, too. The Smoking Gun for that statement is at Darwin Zero.

Go read it all and let it sink in a bit.

Then, for desert, head on over to The Virtuous Republic for more of the same. I’m thinking that I might need to spend a bit of time looking through the data for some local weather stations tonight myself. This is where the Army of Davids that Glenn Reynolds talks about can make a difference.

If you have read the stories of royalty in time gone by, particularly European royalty, you are aware of the conspicuous consumption which marked gatherings of such peoples for hundreds of years. Indeed, it was that very wastefulness which led directly to the rise of republican feeling in France. Well, the old royalty is gone, but the Carbon Royalty are back–hanging out with each other in Copenhagen right now. It is even worse than all that, as noted below:

Imagine an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting where all the members showed up drunk and with extra cases of wine, beer, and booze to keep them happy. Now imagine that that same group of drunks was empowered to make trillions of dollars worth of economic decisions for everybody in the world. This absurd scenario swiftly summarizes the United Nations Climate Change Conference beginning today, and lasting through December 18, in Copenhagen.

[From the Heritage Foundation via Patriot Post]

Others have noted the numbers: 1,200 limos, 140 private planes, etc. This get-together is not properly interested in slowing/stopping AGW (though they are offsetting all of their conspicuous carbon consumption by building some special ovens/kilns in Bangladesh, if I remember correctly). Why even have the offset? Why not save all of the money and carbon that this event is costing and use the internet to hook everybody together from all around the world? Wouldn’t that show a sense of solidarity and togetherness (and even make it simpler for non-Carbon Royalty to attend and participate)?

Those of us who believe that human beings are soulful creations, and that the world was indeed created for our benefit, are mocked by those who claim that we are entirely too human-centric in our view of matters, that obviously humans are just one of many animals and that we have a responsibility to live in harmony with all nature, etc. But who is considering humans as both being capable of destroying the planet (through AGW) as well as saving the same (through cap & trade, carbon sequestration, etc)? Who has elevated humanity to the position of controllers of the fate of the world?

Despite the advances in testable science over the last 100 plus years, we are still learning remarkable things about our planet. We are told (not infrequently) that we have finite reserves of fossil-fuels, only to find out a few weeks, months or years later that we do indeed have finite reserves, but that (based on new discoveries) they just doubled or tripled or quadrupled. Since our planet is finite, it is highly likely that there is a limit to fossil fuel deposits. At the same time, when one considers how much of our undersea crust has yet to be explored, we would be foolish to assume that we know what that limit is.

Further, despite advances in measuring temperatures, pressures, etc we regularly fail to factor in all of the variables which come to bear. Everyone knows that the 3-day forecast is pretty close, the 5-day is iffy and the 10-day is a roll of the dice (particularly at this time of year in the Dakotas, brrrr). And, when we build computer models so we can retroactively forecast (if such is possible) the climate of the last 20 or 50 or 100 years, we don’t get it right.

The thousands of Carbon Royalty who are currently dialoguing in Copenhagen are not interested in saving the planet (though there may be a few honest exceptions to that). No, they are interested in saving their jobs and reputations as well as ensuring that their political power continues to grow, allowing them more and more control over the everyday lives of the rest of us plebeians.

Those who claim that this summit is focused on energy and the future are close. The real agenda is power and the present.

School funding freeze at state level.

Crop insurance deadline adds to the harvest chill.

Cheaper food sells better in recession. Who would have thought it?

The following video explains why the Swiss, in part, are such a well-armed people:

Information about the flight which I covered previously (the former diver’s story) is now shown to be demonstrably false, seeing that the person was not actually on the flight in question. Baldilocks has the latest, and closes with the following:

Something happened on that plane and it’s too bad that one person’s fantasy life may interfere with the whole truth getting out.  But there will be more like these.  Count on it.

Getting to the truth is often not a simple task. I’m glad to find out that more people were able to check into this story. It would still be nice to know exactly what did happen (or didn’t happen). Perhaps in time we’ll find out.

To any who were misled by my writing about it, you have my apologies. I fully understand that I’ll not always get it right, but I will correct the record, in those cases, as soon as I know more information.

We’ve been looking for more space for our family as the children multiply and grow. Right now, we have the same number of square feet per person as the average American did back in 1954 (not that there is anything wrong with that). However, we do not even begin to comprehend living space as the folks at the following link do.

Each of 100 apartments is pictured with its residents. Each apartment is 3 meters by 3 meters, or roughly 100 square feet.

Now, if only my children were old enough to understand just how good we have it . . . .

HT: The Antiplanner

Rounds thinks state taxpayers should do more to help needy.

Deadwood investing in more gambling to help economy.

Stay in jail–it’s cheaper than the motel.

Repower South Dakota saying that climate change is “ticking time bomb.”

Today is the day of which it was said by FDR that it was “a date which will live in infamy:” the day Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor without provocation. It was December 7, 1941.

Here are pages which include both description and a number of images which were captured of the attack (from both perspectives). One image which particularly struck me was this one of the Japanese servicemen cheering on the planes as the left for the attack. Little did they know that this action would lead directly to the destruction of the Empire of the Rising Sun.

Fewer and fewer of the participants who survived the attacks remain alive today. May we not forget Pearl Harbor.

In the following video, Andrew Klavan does his best to help us understand the truth about what some consider a serious disease.

High-school friend of Sarah Palin shows up for Sioux Falls book signing.

Taxpayer’s money for tribes to create jobs.

Biggest cost of hunting? Time.

Bike trails and travails.

Tea Party in the Capitol (of South Dakota).

Back in 1943, things were a bit different (and perhaps not so different after all) as displayed in the following bit of Disneyfied propaganda.

Don’t you just love the part at the end?

This is our fight. The fight for freedom. Freedom of speech . . . of worship. Freedom from want . . . and fear. Taxes  . . . will keep democracy on the march.

Paying taxes to win a war and prevent one’s country from being overrun by the enemy–necessary. Paying taxes to do away with “want” and “fear”–foolishness in 1943 and every other year.

Sarah Palin will be in Sioux Falls tomorrow (Dec 6, 2009) at the Barnes and Noble. While some cities have to specify which Barnes and Noble, it is not as difficult for Sioux Falls–seeing that the city boasts just one of them.

Had some business over by there at daybreak this morning and was interested to see that preparations were already being made–among them the inclusion of media vehicles (broadcast vans) for local TV station(s). A fact about this particular location, the corner of 41st Street and Louise Avenue which may not be largely known outside of the city itself: This is the busiest intersection in the city. And, as far as I can remember, that also makes it the busiest intersection (in terms of vehicles passing per unit time) in the entire state of South Dakota. So, tomorrow will be quite interesting for law enforcement, bookstore workers, Palin fans and followers as they all make their way to the little shop on the corner of the busiest place in the state.

No, if any of you are wondering, I shall not be part of the festivities. Other matters will be occupying me during that time.

Update

Here’s an overhead shot of the location. You will notice the WalMart is located just to the north, providing any who may need it with all necessary items for standing in line.