February 17, 2011
The Climategate emails revealed the extent to which the global warming establishment were prepared to go to pervert and doctor the peer review process to inhibit the publication of any papers challenging global warming orthodoxy.
Fraser Nelsonthe editor of the Spectator relates the story in his blog of how a critique of faults in a paper written by one of the establishment (Eric Steig) was sent to the criticised Steig himself for peer review!! He writes:
Debunking the Antarctica myths
In January 2009, Nature magazine ran the a cover story (pictured) conveying dramatic news about Antarctica: that most of it had warmed significantly over the last half-century. For years, the data from this frozen continent – with 90 percent of the world’s ice mass – had stubbornly refused to corroborate the global warming narrative. So the study, led by Eric Steig of the University of Washington, was treated as a bit of a scoop. It reverberated around the world. Gavin Schmidt, from the RealClimate blog, declared that Antarctica had silenced the sceptics. Mission, it seemed, was accomplished: Antarctica was no longer an embarrassment to the global warming narrative.
He spoke too soon. The indefatigable Steve McIntyre started to scrutinise his followings along with Nicholas Lewis. They found several flaws: Steig et al had used too few data sequences to speak for an entire continent, and had processed the data in a very questionable way. But when they wanted to correct him, in another journal, they quickly ran into an inconvenient truth about global warming: the high priests do not like refutation. To have their critique (pdf) of Steig’s work published, they needed to assuage the many demands of an anonymous ‘Reviewer A’ – whom they later found out to be Steig himself.
Lewis and Matt Ridley have joined forces to tell the story in the cover issue of this week’s Spectator.
It’s another powerful, and depressing tale of the woeful state of climate science. Real science welcomes refutation: with global warming, it is treated as a religion.
As they say in their cover story:
“Nature’s original peer-review process had let through an obviously flawed paper, and no professional climate scientist then disputed it – perhaps because of fear that doing so might harm their careers. As the title of Richard Bean’s new play – The Heretic – at the Royal Court hints, young scientists going into climate studies these days are a bit like young theologians in Elizabethan England. They quickly learn that funding and promotion dries up if you express heterodox views, or doubt the scripture. The scripture, in this case, being the assembled reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. …… So has Antarctica been warming? Mostly not – at least not measurably. Retreat of the floating Antarctic ice shelves is a favourite story for the media. But, except in a very few peripheral parts, Antarctica is far too cold to lose ice by surface melting.”
Tags: Antarctica, Climategate, Eric Steig, global warming, peer review, Perverted peer review
Posted in Alarmism, Antarctic, Scientific Fraud | Comments Off on Peer review becomes incestuous when it comes to Global Warming
February 17, 2011
Qantas half-year profits have already been hit to the tune of $55 million by the failure of the Rolls Royce Trent 900 and the subsequent grounding of their A380 aircraft in November last year. They also stated that there would be a charge of $ 25 million for the second half-year which gives a total cost to Qantas – for this financial year – of at least $ 80 million.
BBC News:
Qantas Airways said its first half net profits had risen four-fold, but it added that last year’s explosion in one of its Rolls-Royce engines had wiped off $55m (£34.4m). The breakdown led to the grounding of its A380 aircraft last year.
The Australian airline predicted 2011 full year profits would be much higher than last year. But it warned that these would be held back by high fuel prices and the recent floods in Queensland.
Qantas said there would be another $25m charge in the second-half results from the A380 problems.
Rolls Royce has already announced a hit on profits for direct costs of £56 million (about $89 million) for the engine explosion and related events for the year till December 2010. No doubt the losses suffered by Qantas will be part of their compensation claim against the engine maker.
With compensation claims due also from Airbus (EADS), Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa and with the additional costs spilling over into 2011, the total cost of the engine mishap will likely exceed my estimate of $300 million.
Estimated costs for Rolls Royce:
- Direct costs $130 million
- Indirect (servicing) costs thru 2011 – $50 million
- Qantas claim – $70 million
- Airbus claims – $50 million
- Singapore Airline claims – $25 million
- Lufthansa claims – $10 million
What impact the loss of potential sales could have is anybody’s guess – but it would be interesting to see if Pratt & Whitney shows a better than expected order intake.
Tags: Airbus, EADS, Lufthansa, Pratt & Whitney, Qantas, Rolls-Royce Trent 900, Singapore Airline, Trent 900 failure
Posted in Australia, Aviation, Engineering, Technology, Travel | Comments Off on Rolls Royce engine failure will eat up $80 million of Qantas profits
February 16, 2011
Michèle Alliot-Marie: image wikipedia
That corruption and ethics do not place very high in the French scale of values is at least very true for Government ministers. Exploiting the privileges of position is a tradition which is not only maintained but is staunchly defended. Not only did the French Prime Minister have an all expenses paid holiday at the expense of Mubarak (before he left) including the use of Mabarak’s plane, but the Foreign Minister also happily flew around in the plane of a friend of the deposed Tunisian dictator. Now it is also revealed that her parents (in their nineties) have made lucrative real estate deals with one of the dictator’s Tunisian associates.
If nothing else their choice of benefactors brings their judgements into question. And the French Foreign Minister actually being in Tunisia during the protests does not say much for the the intelligence or anticipation of her staff. She even spoke to Ben Ali on the phone during her vacation!!!!!! No doubt she wished him Bon Voyage.
Perhaps the best way to predict when the next Middle East dictator will topple is to study who is treating a French Minister to a holiday.
François Fillon: image wikipedia
The BBC reports:
French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has defended a property deal between her parents and an associate of the ousted Tunisian president. ….. Earlier Ms Alliot-Marie was criticised for having flown twice on a jet owned by Aziz Miled, who was close to ex-president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. She was on holiday in Tunisia during anti-government protests in December. ….
Speaking on Wednesday on the French radio station Europe 1, her father Bernard Marie said Aziz Miled was a long-standing personal friend and “my wife and I are the only ones involved” in the business deal. Le Canard Enchaine reported that Ms Alliot-Marie’s parents, both in their 90s, already owned part of a property company, SCI Ikram, and bought the rest of the shares from Mr Miled while in Tunisia with their daughter. An aide to Ms Alliot-Marie said the minister had had “a brief telephone conversation” with Mr Ben Ali during her holiday. The aide did not elaborate further.
Meanwhile, the French government expressed its “total support” for Ms Alliot-Marie on Wednesday.
Last week French President Nicolas Sarkozy told his government to holiday at home in future. He was responding to the revelations about Ms Alliot-Marie and Prime Minister Francois Fillon, who was criticised for having enjoyed hospitality in Egypt provided by former President Hosni Mubarak. Mr Fillon admitted he took a new year break in Egypt, paid for by Mr Mubarak. The prime minister and his family were given lodgings, used an Egyptian plane for an internal flight and took a boat trip on the Nile, all at Egyptian expense.
Neither has offered to repay the costs of their holidays to the people of Egypt or of Tunisia.
Tags: Abuse of privilege, Corrupt French Ministers, Egypt, François Fillon, French Foreign Minister, French Prime Minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, Tunisia
Posted in Behaviour, Corruption, France | 1 Comment »
February 16, 2011
The BBC tells us that one of the earliest recorded use of “bunga bunga” was the Dreadnaught hoax in 1910.
Virginia Woolf (far left) joins Horace de Vere Cole (far right) in the 'bunga' hoax: image bbc
The infamous Dreadnought hoax was dreamed up by aristocratic joker Horace de Vere Cole, who contacted the British Admiralty pretending to be the Emperor of Abyssinia. He informed officials that he wished to inspect the Home Fleet while on a forthcoming visit to Britain.
After enlisting some friends – artists from the Bloomsbury group, including writer Virginia Woolf – to masquerade as his entourage, he turned up at the navy’s state-of-the-art ship, the Dreadnought.
Officials, taken in by the dark stage make-up, false beards and oriental regalia, treated the group to an official civic reception.
They were reported to have cried “Bunga, bunga!” while marvelling at the ship. An account of the visit plus a picture were sent to the Daily Mail newspaper – probably by Cole himself.
Virginia Woolf said later that when the real Emperor of Abyssinia arrived in London weeks later, wherever he went, ”the street boys ran after him calling out bunga, bunga!” The term reappeared at the end of World War I, after HMS Dreadnought sank a German submarine. According to retired Royal Navy captain Jack Broome – in his book Make Another Signal – the congratulatory telegram read: “BUNGA BUNGA”.
Musical Hall ditty from 1910
When I went on board a Dreadnought ship
I looked like a costermonger;
They said I was an Abyssinian prince
‘Cos I shouted ‘Bunga Bunga!’
Source: The Sultan of Zanzibar: The Bizarre World and Spectacular Hoaxes of Horace de Vere Cole, Martyn Downer
The phrase “bunga bunga” has become inextricably linked with the private peccadilloes of Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi but he can claim to be in the “good” company of a cross-dressing Virginia Woolf !
Tags: Bloomsbury group, bunga bunga, Dreadnought hoax, Horace de Vere Cole, Silvio Berlusconi, Virginia Woolf
Posted in Behaviour, Italy | 1 Comment »
February 16, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
The Financial Times Deutschland carries this story today:
Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) has to defend himself against accusations that he had cheated on his doctoral thesis. According to the “Sueddeutsche Zeitung” (Wednesday) there are some passages in Guttenberg’s thesis which match literally formulations by other authors, and which have not been acknowledged.
The thesis is in several places “a brazen plagiarism” and “deception”, the paper quoted the Bremen law professor Andreas Fischer-Lescano, who had discovered the duplications during a routine examination. Fischer-Lescano teaches at the University of Bremen Public Law, European and international law.
…….
Guttenberg submitted his doctoral work in 2006 at the Law Faculty in Bayreuth. In 2007, he was then awarded the highest degree – summa cum laude doctorate in law (PhD).
The thesis is now under investigation by the Ombudsman for scientific self-regulation of the University of Bayreuth.
But this is an investigation concerning a serving Minister. I can predict with the greatest of confidence that the establishment will close ranks and that the investigation will come to the conclusions that:
- no scientific misconduct is involved,
- the lack of references were merely an oversight and an honest mistake, and
- the degree award is not tainted in any way and
- no further action is required except the insertion of an addendum acknowledging the plagiarised authors
Related:
Tags: Defence minister, Education, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Scientific misconduct, thesis, University of Bayreuth
Posted in Behaviour, Education, Germany | 1 Comment »
February 16, 2011
This seems to indicate a perverse view of military recruitment. With the end of conscription the German armed forces are short of people. But targeting school drop-outs and foreigners for lower-ranking military positions seems like an attempt to recruit cannon-fodder.
The Local Germany reports:
German military officials are considering pursuing high school dropouts to fill the Bundeswehr’s ranks following the end to conscription.
The Bundeswehr is hoping to make military service more attractive to less educated and unskilled Germans as it transitions to a fully professional force, daily Financial Times Deutschland reported.
“In light of the demographic developments as well as the ongoing structural adjustments to the Bundeswehr, young people with below-average education and school dropouts will now be approached for recruiting,” the document acquired by the paper reads. This “opening of new potential for gaining personnel” will be necessary to maintain the necessary troop numbers, it says, calling the plan an “Attractiveness Programme.”
These recruits would be targeted to fill mainly lower-ranking military positions, the paper said.
The latest detail in military reform plans by the Defence Ministry came after this weekend’s news that foreigners living in Germany could be allowed to join the Bundeswehr. But a Defence Ministry spokesperson told the Financial Times Deutschland on Tuesday that only EU citizens and those from a few other countries would be among those considered for enlistment.
Tags: Bundeswehr, conscription, Germany, recruiting drop-outs
Posted in Behaviour, Defense, Germany | Comments Off on German military looking to drop-outs and foreigners as cannon fodder?
February 15, 2011
Perhaps humanity as a whole has not come as far as we think from the days of Genghis Khan and the inquisitions of the Catholic Church and witch doctors and shamans.
Reuters reports:
Does the sun revolve around the Earth? One in every three Russians thinks so, a spokeswoman for state pollster VsTIOM said on Friday.
In a survey released this week, 32 percent of Russians believed the Earth was the center of the Solar system; 55 percent that all radioactivity is man-made; and 29 percent that the first humans lived when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.
The study also found that women were more likely than men to believe the scientific fallacies.
image: crooksandliars.com
Tags: Russia, Solar System, Sun orbits earth
Posted in Russia, Trivia | Comments Off on One in three Russians believes the sun revolves around the earth!
February 15, 2011
Free-loading civil servants are present everywhere and are the rotten apples among the many millions who are actually civil and who do actually serve but this case from China stands out. Though it is somewhat unclear as to whether he is a heroic whistle-blower or just a free-loader.
“Chinas most capable civil servant”
Jiang Jinxiang - "Chinas most capable civil servant"
WhatsonXiamen.com reports:
A civil servant from Longyan, Fujian Province, who collected a monthly salary for nearly nine years without lifting a finger, intends to go back to work Monday.
Jiang Jinxiang, a former director at the Urban Construction Commission in the Standing Committee of Longyan People’s Congress, was suspended on May 16, 2002 and never returned to work.
Internet users exposed him after they learned he still received a monthly salary of 2,700 yuan ($410) from the local government even though he stayed home. Jiang, 55, who was suspended for trying to expose quality control problems at a city project during a local People’s Congress session in 2002. He told the Global Times Sunday that he stopped going to work in 2002 because his colleagues did not talk to him, which made him unhappy.
“I couldn’t accept the government’s treatment. I felt it was unfair because what I exposed was true,” Jiang said. Jiang saw a government notice in the Minxi Daily on Saturday that ordered him to show up for work within 15 days. Zheng Lixin, head of the Longyan Construction Bureau, which oversees Jiang’s section, said that they kept sending him payments on humanitarian grounds since his family was poor, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Tags: China, Civil service, Jiang Jinxiang, Longyan
Posted in Behaviour, China | Comments Off on Nice work if you can get it! The rewards of whistle-blowing?
February 14, 2011
With easy money like this floating around and waiting to be siphoned off it is not difficult to see why the global warming fraud continues! And of course these $5.5 billion are small change compared to the amounts that have been scammed in Europe.
And to make it worse, carbon dioxide emissions are a little less than insignificant for global temperatures.
The Sydney Morning Herald:
Billions blown on carbon schemes
SUCCESSIVE federal governments have spent more than $5.5 billion over the past decade on climate change programs that are delivering only small reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at unusually high costs for taxpayers and the economy.
An analysis by the Herald of government schemes designed to cut emissions by direct spending or regulatory intervention reveals they have cost an average of $168 for each tonne of carbon dioxide abated. ……
The analysis of 17 programs with a total cost of $5.62 billion shows many of the schemes are at odds with the goal of tackling climate change at the lowest cost to the economy. ………
The weighted average cost of the 17 programs was $168 a tonne. They will deliver about 25 million tonnes of carbon abatement in 2020 – less than 10 per cent of that needed to meet the government’s target of reducing emissions in 2020 by 5 per cent on 2000 levels.
The worst offenders have included Labor’s rebates for rooftop solar panels, which cost $300 or more for every tonne of carbon abated, and the Howard government’s remote renewable power generation scheme, which paid up to $340 for each tonne.
Read the article.
Tags: Australia, carbon trading scams, climate, climate change, Emissions trading, Greenhouse gas
Posted in Alarmism, Australia, Climate, Environment, Scientific Fraud, Weather | Comments Off on Carbon dioxide rip-off has cost Australia $5.5 billion – so far
February 14, 2011
An excavator removes snow from a road in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Sunday. The heaviest snowfall in a century hit Gangneung and other cities in the eastern part of the province between Friday and Saturday, with hundreds of people stranded on roads and causing property damage. / Korea Times photo by Kim Joo-young
While all the snow and ice covering a large part of the Northern hemisphere does not prove anything about climate, in the style of the global warmists we could say that it is entirely consistent with the coming of a new Dalton-like solar minimum and a coming ice-age!!
From the BBC:
The heaviest snowfall in more than a century on South Korea’s east coast is causing widespread chaos. Hundreds of houses have collapsed under the weight of the snow. One newspaper described it as a snow bomb. The South Korean government has deployed 12,000 soldiers to rescue stranded residents.
The worst weather has been in Gangwon province. Weather experts say there will be more snowfall in the area in the coming hours. “I am 83 years old. It’s the heaviest snow in my life. I am really grateful for the soldiers’ help,” said Park Chae-ran. …..
….. January was the coldest since the 1960s. In Gangwon on the eastern coast, one city recorded 80cm (2.6 feet) of snow in a single day – the heaviest fall in 24 hours since records began there back in 1911.
The Han River in the capital, Seoul, iced over for the first time in years – but the latest snowfalls have left the capital unaffected so far.
More snow is forecast.
Tags: frozen Han river, Gangneung, heaviest snowfall, South Korea
Posted in Climate, Weather, Winter | Comments Off on Heaviest snowfall in a century in South Korea
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