A man was misdiagnosed as being in a coma for twenty-three years while being fully conscious. As Mark Steyn (from whom I got the link) says, it’s amazing that he retained his sanity.
It would behoove neurologists and neuroscientists to be a little more humble about what they think they know about the brain and consciousness.
My thoughts on the climate-change fraud, over at PJM.
[Update a few minutes later]
All the news that’s fit to bury. I liked this: “If Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe are done tormenting ACORN maybe they can figure out how to pose as underaged climate researchers…”
[Update about 8:30 PST]
The ugly side of climate science.
[Late morning update]
Lord Monckton speaks: They are criminals.
[Early afternoon update]
Another “blue dress” moment for the media — the BBC has had some of this info for weeks.
[Update mid afternoon]
I like the comment that offered this code snippet over at McIntyre’s place:
void function fubar(void); {
if dataset == hockeystick then plot(dataset); else fudge(dataset);
return; }
I assume that it’s recursive, in that fudge calls fubar…
Here’s a nice summary of the significant contents of the email dump. Regardless of the validity of the science, these people have thoroughly discredited themselves, and given AGW skeptics a vast arsenal. Thankfully, this is going to make it much more difficult for the warm-mongers to implement their anti-free-market agenda. I suspect that if cap’n’tax wasn’t already dead in the Senate, it will be now.
[Update mid afternoon]
Powerline has been going through the emails. The picture that emerges is not that of scientists seeking truth, but of partisans, protecting (at the least) their own pet theory, and possibly a broader agenda as well, at the expense of truth and the reputations of anyone who dares to question them..
[Sunday morning update]
When in doubt, delete:
These emails appear to show that, when faced with a legitimate request under Britain’s Freedom of Information Act, these global warming alarmists preferred to delete their emails with one another about the crucially important IPCC report–the main basis for the purported “consensus” in favor of anthropogenic global warming–rather than allow them to come to light. This is one of many instances in the East Anglia documents where the global warming alarmists act like a gang of co-conspirators rather than respectable scientists.
I don’t think it’s an act.
…make better Star Trek? John Scalzi thinks not.
And the warm-mongers aren’t happy about it.
[Update a few minutes later]
Environmentalists exposed as liars. I’m shocked, shocked I say.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s more on the apparent fraud at the Climate Research Unit.
The problem is that the files and emails seem just too good to be true. A number of files seem to be smoking guns — revealing how to resist Freedom of Information Act requests for their data (which would both be scientific misconduct and actually illegal); long-term marketing plans on how to push the climate-change agenda; and discussions of how to pressure peer-reviewed journals to stop accepting papers that disagree with the “accepted” view of global warming.
In other words, just what the skeptics have been suggesting for years. It seems just too neat, and we don’t have independent verification of where the files came from. Someone who is willing to hack might also be willing to create fakes.
But then, the whole package is very large — 63 megabytes — and seems to be very internally consistent. Several people have already corroborated a number of the emails as being ones they wrote or received. The package also includes substantial data and computer programs, which are being explored as this is being written.
The best we can say right now is that we should keep our eyes on this. If these files are eventually corroborated and verified, it is a bombshell indeed — evidence that there has been a literal conspiracy to push the anthropogenic climate change agenda far beyond the science.
I wish I could say that I was surprised. Actually, I am, a little. I wouldn’t have thought they’d be this blatant about it, but it’s been clear for years that this was being driven by a non-science agenda.
As noted in comments, Jerry Pournelle has some thoughts today:
sounds to me as if climatologists are now admitting they have not the faintest idea of what is going on. I have a remedy for them. Study the data and refine the models. Stop assuming you already know the answers and start looking for better models….
But that’s no fun. It doesn’t give them an excuse to implement socialism via the green door.
[Afternoon update]
Here is more from James Delingpole:
The world is currently cooling; electorates are increasingly reluctant to support eco-policies leading to more oppressive regulation, higher taxes and higher utility bills; the tide is turning against Al Gore’s Anthropogenic Global Warming theory. The so-called “sceptical” view is now also the majority view.
Unfortunately, we’ve a long, long way to go before the public mood (and scientific truth) is reflected by our policy makers. There are too many vested interests in AGW, with far too much to lose either in terms of reputation or money, for this to end without a bitter fight.
But if the Hadley CRU scandal is true, it’s a blow to the AGW lobby’s credibility which is never likely to recover.
What I find delicious about this is (as always) the toxic brew of self-righteousness and hypocrisy. I don’t want to hear anyone, ever again, tell me that it’s “just about the science.”
[Mid-afternoon update]
A lot of discussion over at Slashdot.
Not years. Months. We really need to be thinking about climate control in general, instead of how to punish carbon emitters.
Leonard David has the story of the budding lunar environmental movement.
Is this stupid? Why, yes, as a matter of fact. Yes, it is.
A cat has come down with it:
The 13-year-old cat apparently caught the virus from one of the people living in the house, the group said in a statement. It has recovered and does not appear to have infected anyone or anything else.
If it can mutate to do that, it may be able to mutate to do nastier things. Hope the vaccines can keep up.
A fight over radioactive space monkeys.
I want one.
Pat Flannery probably does, too, but only if it’s cute and personality filled.
…to first order, any way. Some thoughts from Charlie Stross.