Quote of the week: The end is Nye for Bill Nye being a 'weather expert'

qotw_cropped

Earlier today I pointed out how Bill Nye “The Science Guy” couldn’t even explain the most basic tenet of meteorology, the Coriolis Effect, among other things.

It seems the Washington Post agrees. Jason Samenow writes:

To educate viewers on the science of the recent mega-blizzard that socked New England, MSNBC’s Craig Melvin brought onto his program noted “science guy” Bill Nye . What followed was the one of the most flawed discussions of meteorology I’ve ever seen on a national network.

“Nye has created some wonderful science educational programs for children, but a weather expert he is not.”

Read more at the Washington Post.

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lurker, passing through laughing
February 11, 2013 12:14 pm

Bill Nye’s meteorolgical prowess seems pretty indstinguishable from his climate prowess.

Greg Goodman
February 11, 2013 12:16 pm

Wasn’t Bill Nye also the science “expert” behind Gore’s video attempt at greenhouse effect in bottle that so totally flawed they had make it into a science fraud with post production video trickery?
Whoever, designed that experiment did not even understand the basics about radiation.
REPLY: Yep, read all about it here http://wattsupwiththat.com/climate-fail-files/gore-and-bill-nye-fail-at-doing-a-simple-co2-experiment/
-Anthony

February 11, 2013 12:17 pm

This is what is known as “bullscience”.

Jim Breeding
February 11, 2013 12:17 pm

Bill is an embarrassment to the Engineering profession. As president of the Planetary Society he is also an embarrassment to them and the reason I refuse to renew my membership until he is gone…or muzzled.

mfrodis
February 11, 2013 12:21 pm

O.T.
Forget for a moment this “scientist”
Watch an amazing time compressed clip of ice-field calving. Awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/hC3VTgIPoGU?rel=0

exNOAAman
February 11, 2013 12:25 pm

Can’t believe that Samenow (and the Post) is willing to admit this.
Nye must be falling out of favor. After hearing some of his uninformed foolishness, I don’t see how.

rogerknights
February 11, 2013 12:26 pm

Not an expert on climate? Then how can he say the sky is falling?

LamontT
February 11, 2013 12:27 pm

I think this complete lack of any knowledge or understanding of meteorology goes a long way towards explaining Bill Nye’s support of AGW. Keep in mind he is a mechanical engineer and I will be the first to note that your primary training doesn’t automatically limit you to only knowing about that topic.
He clearly has skill in the mech engineering area and in presentation etc. given that he did training films for Boeing along with developing technology still used today with them. But my impression is that he isn’t a generalist. That he must research any topic he doesn’t know about such as … meteorology. And if he turns to the wrong sources he can easily find himself in the weeds. This appears to be what has happened with for example man made global warming. He has just accepted what he was told and not bothered to do any indepth research himself.
It is worse of course because he is supposed to be a trusted expert and people assume he knows about any topic he presents on.

February 11, 2013 12:35 pm

Nye is no Don Hurbert .

Sean
February 11, 2013 12:37 pm

Bill Nye has saved me a lot of money. Last year he and his politically correct science was the guest speaker at graduation for my undergrad alma mater. He was the straw that broke the camels back. I was frustrated that PC science and admissions had become the norm for a school that in its first 50 years had become one of the premier undergraduate schools for engineering and science majors. When they get back to science, I’ll go back to supporting them.

Jay
February 11, 2013 12:44 pm

Nor a climate expert…

Luther Wu
February 11, 2013 1:06 pm

“Is the asteroid, 2012 DA14, coming our way an effect of global warming?”
Well, ye.. n… mayb… it’s compli.. well, what we are doing is putting billions and billions of tons of CO2 into our atmosphere and eventually, that makes such a difference in the weight of the earth, that gravity pulls harder on passing meteors and after all this one was a near miss only 15 minutes away , so we could be in trouble due to global warming.

observa
February 11, 2013 1:10 pm

Speaking of Bill Nye isn’t he the bloke the asteroid people call on for advice?
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/it_also_causes_everything_else/
As a droid myself I was having trouble keeping up with it all until I spotted the obvious connenction that our weather is really like an ‘athlete on steroids’-
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Hostility-over-climate-change-cools-off-4TDWE?OpenDocument&src=mp
which is all very topical Down Under at present-
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/column_sports_blackest_day_is_more_spin_than_substance/
Yes it’s a tangled web the lil devils will weave but not that hard to untangle once you’ve been a parent with kiddies.

Patrick B
February 11, 2013 1:37 pm

I would like to see a debate on CAGW between the engineers Rutan and Nye.

February 11, 2013 2:16 pm

I was amused (amazed?) but the discussion of “Sou’wester”. I have 2 Sou’westers. One is oilskin, the other, rubber. Usually included in your seabag, as part of your “foulies”. Not sure where it originated, but go into any ship’s chandelry in New England and you’ll see plenty of them. Grunden’s is the preferred brand among the folks living on the coast of Maine, or at least the ones I know.
Here’s a page showing several of their Sou’westers:
http://www.reddenmarine.com/clothing/clothing-personal-items/hat.html
According to some of the online dictionairies, the term can also apply to a storm which produces south west winds. Pretty rare in New England, might have more of them down in Chile or Peru?…we thrive on Nor’Easters up here, as was evidenced this past weekend.
Jim

Goode 'nuff
February 11, 2013 2:21 pm

I recall this funny quote about engineers… think it was from a project manager.
“There comes a time in every project that we must shoot the engineer and move on with progress.”

D.J. Hawkins
February 11, 2013 2:52 pm

Goode ’nuff says:
February 11, 2013 at 2:21 pm
I recall this funny quote about engineers… think it was from a project manager.
“There comes a time in every project that we must shoot the engineer and move on with progress.”

No doubt due to the apparently universal tendency of engineers to let the perfect become the enemy of the good. It’s a hard habit to break, until your compensation is tied to the profitability of the project. Letting go becomes a lot easier after that.

RichieP
February 11, 2013 2:55 pm

Sou’westers in British waters always bring a lot of rain with them, hence I think the name.

b. johnston
February 11, 2013 3:28 pm

In May,1961, Newton Minnow, head of the FCC, declared commercial television a “vast wasteland”.
I see not much has changed.

RichieP
February 11, 2013 3:35 pm

… and sou’westers are our prevailing wind. We get a lot of rain.

John F. Hultquist
February 11, 2013 3:38 pm

WA, OR, & B.C. get winds from the southwest, and on occasion these bring much rain or snow in the mountains. By definition, they may be called SW winds. If they are of any significance the locals call them a Pineapple Express

February 11, 2013 5:29 pm

I rarely watch TV any more,in fact I don’t watch it just as much.
When my darling children were in school,I would say,school night,
no tv.I did not get to watch tv when I was in school.Dad,when were in
school there wasn’t any TV they would say. I know, I know I would
answer, we watched the Radio.];[)
Alfred

KevinK
February 11, 2013 5:41 pm

Goode ‘nuff wrote;
“There comes a time in every project that we must shoot the engineer and move on with progress.”
Actually I’ve always heard it as ““There comes a time in every project that we must shoot the engineer(s) and SHIP THE PRODUCT.”
If left to their own devices most engineers will just keep improving/perfecting their creation even if the market doesn’t need the improvements. No design is ever perfect and can always use a few enhancements.
Cheers, Kevin (engineer, never actually been shot, shot AT a few times….)

February 11, 2013 5:46 pm

Wait until one of Bill’s new clockwise hurricanes meshes with one of he regular anticlockwise ones as it makes landfall in New England! It will be well nye a disaster. Or the first one may knock down buildings and the second one stand them up again. I always wonder why the global warming alarmists who are scientists don’t criticize the garbage from Nye, Gore and some other clowns that are giving the team a bad name.

Joe Ryan
February 11, 2013 6:22 pm

Bill Nye is only one of the million monkeys working on this draft of Hamlet.

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