Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
1. Obama tells government scientists that they have to agree with him, or lose their jobs.
2. Government scientists then agree with him.
3. Obama then says “100% of government scientists agree with me”
4. Kook and Nuttercelli then write a paper about the 97% consensus.
Still not sure why President Obama went and did that (video behind link auto-plays). It isn’t smart politically, in the sense that it exposes the catechism-science as what it really is: Something masquerading under the label of “science” that doesn’t involve experience or experimentation. Phony-science that is molded into shape by politicians who talk too much.
And that is a fact. Say what you want about a process, but when it involves an inherent confusion between what’s certain and what is not, in fact comes to rely on that, it isn’t scientific.
Update: Ah, so that is where I saw it (hat tip Gerard again).
In the light of all this, we have at least to consider the possibility that the scientific establishment behind the global warming issue has been drawn into the trap of seriously overstating the climate problem—or, what is much the same thing, of seriously understating the uncertainties associated with the climate problem—in its effort to promote the cause. It is a particularly nasty trap in the context of science, because it risks destroying, perhaps for centuries to come, the unique and hard-won reputation for honesty which is the basis of society’s respect for scientific endeavour. Trading reputational capital for short-term political gain isn’t the most sensible way of going about things.
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At this point, does any rational person trust anything the government says? “Science” is rapidly approaching that same space. And this is a bipartisan problem —both sides look first at the character and background of the scientist long before they get around to looking at his data (if indeed they ever do).
And that’s bad. Like, really bad. We all need reminding that 2+2 = 4 even if Hitler says it, and that 2+2 /= 5 even if Mother Teresa says it. As scientists themselves are the worst offenders, they’d do well to think on that.
- Severian | 01/30/2014 @ 07:39