I would prefer a pragmatic climate/energy realist, as Palin appears to be (pin her down until she can’t wiggle out of a position), to the climate/energy AGW ideologues who afford us no escape from suicide except after life threatening masochism.

Some people are teachable, some not. Perfect politicians – perhaps in another solar system.

I’m not much into juvenile tactics, but this bill truly deserves some name calling; it came quite by accident, but it certainly is appropriate. Join me in re-baptizing the “Waxman-Markey” Bill as the “Whackey-Marxman” Bill

youtube.com/watch?v=Vq5y-IURiBc

I’m not much into juvenile tactics, but this bill truly deserves some name calling; it came quite by accident, but it certainly is appropriate. Join me in re-baptizing the “Waxman-Markey” Bill as the “Whackey-Marxman” Bill

youtube.com/watch?v=Vq5y-IURiBc

Very well put Mr. Neilsen, thank you!

E.M., I am familiar with this book, since we do have a copy of it. My husband has corresponded with the author, and sent him one of the chapters of his own book. It is almost frightening when physicists become theologians, and start using mathematical formulas to describe the amount of energy which God used to create the universe, and what percent of God’s total energy that was. It involves starting with Einstein’s equations for energy.

I’m still coming to grips with 2 + 2 = 5, for very large values of 2, so I don’t pretend to actually understand it.

“”Yes, some people did actually, once-upon-a-time in a fairy-tale, believe in Creationism! Can you believe it, kids!! (wipes tear from eye) ho, ho, ho, ho….””

You make my point exactly. You are so afraid that an honest investigation of the data will result in some people accepting a creationist framework that you must put your thumb on the scale and subject anything contrary to your beliefs with scorn and ridicule, rather than facts and logic. This is of a piece with the AGW crowd, who will not engage in honest debate for fear that some people will disagree with them and shatter their “consensus science.”

To reiterate my original point, I believe that an honest, open examination of the data without recourse to ridicule, ad hominen, poisoning the well, flooding the stage, appeals to authority, or straw man arguments is never a thing to be feared, whether the topic is the shape of the earth, its origins, the mechanisms driving its climate, the nature of tectonic mechanics, or the cause or causes of ulcers. Your attacks on people’s religious beliefs in a forum devoted to climate science and whatever else interests Anthony (and I have seen no posts in this fine blog addressing religion in any way) are obnoxious and unwelcome.

“But there is a much simpler answer to Genesis – it is simply a well-thumbed copy of the Hymn to the Aten, written circa 1340BC by Pharaoh Akhenaton, the monotheist heretic pharaoh of Egypt…As it happens, Pharaoh Akenaton’s brother was a high priest called called Moses…”

That is quite a claim you make. Of course there is not a shread of evidence for any of it, but it’s something you accept by faith, so you need no evidence to support your claim.

Janice (07:30:27) : Spot on!

Sarah Palin is just finishing up all her last minute concerns before leaving her office.
Interesting, Sarah decides to write about America’s unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing.
Sarah could of taken an opportunity to create jobs for Alaskans by participating to receive Obama’s Stimulus Relief to create JOBS. “”"

Well aren’t you the generous one Juliana. How much money did you personally contribute to “Obama’s Stimulus Relief to create JOBS.” ?

How much did Obama himself contribute? As for the money; it has all gone; but less than 10% of it has been spent; the rest went into peole’s pockets, or is promised to future socialist programs; which will create zero jobs, and very little of the money that has been spent has created ANY jobs; we are still losing jobs at around a half million a month; so no jobs have been created by “Obama’s Stimulus Relief”.

As for Alaskans; they would have plenty of jobs if the federal government just got out of the way, and let Alaskans run their own Sovereign Republic State.

I’m sure Governor Palin would win a lot of friends by robbing people in other States to hand out money to unemployed Alaskans who are unemployed largely because of federal government interference in State affairs

I would be interested to see your version of UK economic growth and unemployment trends for the decade before and the decades after Thatcher.

What is so funny about this politically correct hatred of Thatcher, is that so much of it comes from the very coal miners that the left are trying to completely devastate with things like Cap and Trade. I saw Billy Elliot in Soho last winter, and the hatred for her expressed in that play approaches the hatred of Bush, and almost the hatred of Sarah Palin here. All the time, the irony of the absolute political incorrectness of the miner’s cause, and the apparent doublethink by the mostly British was quite a source of amusement. That and the dream number the gay kid character did, which was worth the price of the show.

How about “Do I support cap and trade to get the Vice Presidency”

Maybe a bit below the belt. Perhaps she thought she’d be able to subvert from within.

And STILL exciting the same polarity! Ha ha! :)

Whatever you think of her, Margaret Thatcher is still considered by very many people to have been the best UK leader since Churchill.

I suspect that when I join the queue to relieve myself on her grave, I will witness ‘very many people’ ahead of me, and ‘very many more’ coming up behind. Miners drink a lot of beer. I’ll take my wellies.

Fascinating. But it doesn’t change the basic question of “calibration”, it just moves the issue back one step in history. There was an interval of Egyptian history when they had “foreign pharos”, the Hixos or Hyksos.

See: http://www.touregypt.net/kings.htm

Down about the Second Intermediate Period

Though “The Naked Archeologist” had an interesting episode on the question that showed a slightly different chronology that makes the match to the evidence on the ground even more exact and matches the Hebrew history too. There is a very real probability that the Egyptian pharaohs from the monotheistic period WERE Hebrews, thus making that story the same as the Jewish one…

While there is fair evidence that these might have been Hebrews, unfortunately, the story stops there with that speculation. We just don’t know.

Factoid: The hieroglyph for “teacher” is a set of two glyphs – one for “star” the other a “gate” … (begin spooky music…)

So my favorite fantasy is that a “teacher from the stars” came down and gave us a bunch of knowledge (such as the Maya calendar and the Genesis story of creation that is a mangled version of relativity and the big bang); then the grant ran out and they had their Peace Corp / Ph.D. Thesis field trip end and went home… Hey, it’s a FUN fantasy 8-)

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to have been any interest shown in us since then, so we’re on our own to solve our problems.

And that leads us back to Sarah…

I don’t care if she believes in Genesis or not. It could be a true, though mangled, history or it could be a religious fantasy. Makes little difference. The social guidance in the Torah and Bible are generally sound advice and I don’t care if the person buys the rest of the story or not. It gives them a good and functional set of standards to guide them. Basically, it filters out a lot of the junk that would otherwise clutter up their thinking. (Like “Do I take the bribe?” “Is it wrong to lie to the people?” “Do I compromise my fundamental beliefs to get this law passed?” “Is bankrupting GM and stealing the Shareholders wealth OK as long as the Unions benefit?” …)

So, basically, I’ll take a religious nut over a socialist nut any day. One works well, the other leads to catastrophe.

Or: we all have our fantasies, I’d rather have the ones that function well be in charge.

“THE GRAND GAME:

The grand game that is being played out around the world involves oil, natural gas, and renewable energy, also automotive technologies, and now climate change legislation. The stakes are high, the players are world-wide, and opportunities for making and losing vast fortunes exist.”

see http://energyguysmusings.blogspot.com/2009/07/peak-oil-and-unicorns-both-mythical.html

A most significant (and recent) move was ExxonMobil’s investment of $600 million into oil-from-algae. This is a VERY significant event in the Grand Game.