The Tuesday Tittering: The big knobs of climate control

Josh writes:

The latest posts on ENSO influence made me think of a cartoon.

josh-knobs

Related:

Another paper blames ENSO for global warming pause, calling it ‘… a major control knob governing Earth’s temperature.’

‘Mind blowing paper’ blames ENSO for Global Warming Hiatus

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September 3, 2013 11:25 am

“Climate scientists”. Definitely not the sharpest tools in the drawer…

David Ball
September 3, 2013 11:29 am

Love the “Spinal Tap” reference Josh !!

Lance Wallace
September 3, 2013 11:41 am

The other unknown climate control computers fading into infinity (beyond the Sun) is a stroke of comedic genius.

September 3, 2013 11:42 am

Thanks, Josh.
A picture worht a thousand words!

September 3, 2013 11:43 am

Love it!

Merrick
September 3, 2013 11:43 am

That’s the Spinal Tap reference…

Eric in SDCA
September 3, 2013 11:46 am

Is this the reason EPA has announced controls on water vapour emissions?

Janice Moore
September 3, 2013 11:48 am

Control Freaks. NICE JOB! You say so much with just a little ink and a few lines.
Love the body language of each pitiful little freak. I can just hear them, “Hmmmm….. the Sun….. .”
“Uuuuuuuuuuh, hm.”
“Ooooooh, well, hm.”
“Now, (ahem). What’s this do?”
etc, etc….. #(:))

Resourceguy
September 3, 2013 11:49 am

Nice! Will they add a Late Breaking News section to the IPCC report?

Louis Hooffstetter
September 3, 2013 11:50 am

“Climate scientist” is my new favorite oxymoron.

MattN
September 3, 2013 11:51 am

Water vapor goes to 11. Well done…

Auto
September 3, 2013 11:52 am

Looked, and laughed.
Read comments, re-looked, and laughed again.
More comments – another look – and another laugh!
A lovely – and deep – artwork.
Many thanks indeed for brightening my evening here in England. Greatly appreciated.

September 3, 2013 11:52 am

Love it! One of your best cartoons ever! I also like the several sun controls on the side.

Auto
September 3, 2013 11:55 am

And, because it’s so good, have added it to the pictures that appear on my desktop.
Auto

MJBinNM
September 3, 2013 11:57 am

I also like the fact that the CO2 knob is the smallest, but is getting the most attention…

MJBinNM
September 3, 2013 11:59 am

…and the CO2 knob appears to only adjust in one direction…

Kevin Lohse
September 3, 2013 12:00 pm

One sketch shows that Josh has a better understanding of the warmists than any psychologist, I for one am glad to be on his side.

Pamela Gray
September 3, 2013 12:03 pm

My mind went completely in another direction and my first thought was, “Oh Josh you didn’t!” He didn’t.

chris y
September 3, 2013 12:08 pm

Speaking of amusing connecting of the dots, this just in-
Seth Borenstein reports on Sept 3, 2013 that a new study finds that financial stress monopolizes thinking, resulting in a temporary loss of 13 IQ points. Someone from Harvard is involved, so it is not to be questioned.
This is a stunning result. Think of the IQ loss when people are stressed about something much more dire, like catastrophic climate change and dirty weather and flaming faucets and 400 ppm and an underwater west side highway!!!!! I suspect there may be a ‘tipping point’, where runaway IQ loss takes over, and otherwise smart people start chaining themselves to gates and fences.
This helps to explain the empirical observations of David Roberts who wrote, back in October 2011, that “those who strongly support climate action do not do so because they’ve been rationally persuaded; in fact, they tend to be quite ignorant of the scientific details.”
http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/news/2013/09/financial-stress-can-lower-iq?et_cid=3458738&et_rid=207507501&type=cta#.UiYuNrxnJcw
QED.

Tom G(ologist)
September 3, 2013 12:12 pm
Richards in Vancouver
September 3, 2013 12:15 pm

But shouldn’t there be a control knob for hurricanes?
Going up to 6, of course?

GlynnMhor
September 3, 2013 12:21 pm

Would James Hansen be one of the ‘knobs’?

Auto
September 3, 2013 12:22 pm

Tom G(ologist) says:
September 3, 2013 at 12:12 pm
=============
Gorgeous.
Auto

Fred
September 3, 2013 12:24 pm

The Great Glowball Warming Scam & Scheme Walk Back has begun.
Gore, Suzuki, Mann, Trenberth, Hansen and the all the rest . . . there is still time if you begin you own personal “Do the Walk Back” to attempt to salvage something of a decent reputation, a step in the right direction to salvaging your damaged and lost careers.
But you have to get on the Walk Back Train now.
Just admit you were wrong, apologize for the $$$$$Trillions wasted around the globe on useless greenie CO2 scams and beg for forgiveness.

Kevin Kilty
September 3, 2013 12:30 pm

A knob that goes to eleven. Recycled from some old rocker’s sound board.

noaaprogrammer
September 3, 2013 12:48 pm

One more item is needed in the cartoon: As a contrast to the befuddled warmists pondering the large, outdated mainframes, the cartoon needs to include Anthony, sitting in the foreground, typing away on his laptop, updating his blog!

Pamela Gray
September 3, 2013 12:50 pm

Tom, that is FUNNY!!!! The vaporous mechanism. In a nut shell. Lines one (CO2 folks) and two (solar folks), please read.

John West
September 3, 2013 12:55 pm

I especially like that the sun has multiple components.
Well done!

manfredkintop
September 3, 2013 12:56 pm

“Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten”

D Matteson
September 3, 2013 1:17 pm

The CO2 knob reminds me of the heater control knob on an early 1950’s VW.
You could turn it all the way on but still get very little heat.

September 3, 2013 1:22 pm

Maybe it needs a PR knob? Its gauge should be red-lined. 😎

Lewis P Buckingham
September 3, 2013 1:37 pm

Anthony Watts says:
September 3, 2013 at 11:36 am
Using the mark one eyeball it goes to thirteen if the dial goes all the way round.

Jeff
September 3, 2013 1:40 pm

Who’s the scientist on the right?

Follow the Money
September 3, 2013 1:42 pm

I think some of our US govt. “climate scientists” are behind the “evidence” of the mysteriously very under-evidenced chem “attack.” They implicitly sound like this cartoon above. No security agency is lending its name to the “evidence.” The “evidence” is based on gut feelings, and a viewing of videos on youtube. It’s “meta-anaylsis!” Meta-analysis for war! Oh, and maybe some detections of chemicals from chemical fertilizers and food nitrites.
I think it’s really about something personal…maybe the govt. doesn’t want another loss from the Syr. rebels after we failed to save our MB allies in Egypt. Or Team America just can’t figure out when the next info dump on Benghazi is coming out…maybe they thought it was going to come out last week, and when it didn’t…delay. But the science behind their presentations is such a joke. It is so bad, an insecure CNN is overheating its calls for war. “We are beyond the facts that there was a chemical attack.” That sounds just like the “the science is settled” b.s. line in climate science.

D Matteson
September 3, 2013 1:56 pm

“Who’s the scientist on the right?”
I think it’s Roy Spencer.

clipe
September 3, 2013 2:32 pm

Va Pour = Will Pour.
The scientist to the right is peering at the sunny side.

John F. Hultquist
September 3, 2013 2:49 pm

Josh is perceptive and talented. Thanks.
—-
D Matteson says:
September 3, 2013 at 1:17 pm
“The CO2 knob reminds me of the heater control knob on an early 1950′s VW.
You could turn it all the way on but still get very little heat.

You got heat ? !

Peter
September 3, 2013 2:57 pm

The ‘face” of Earth Climate machine is a big “Face”. The gauges at top are the eyes and the water vapor dial is a giant mouth ready to gobble those naive little climate scientists up!

jackmorrow
September 3, 2013 3:12 pm

On my ’74 TR 6 when I turned the heater on, all the radiator fluid would leak out around the heater control valve. LOL Too bad the money to support the AGW folks doesn’t” leak out” when we expose them.

Pedantic old Fart
September 3, 2013 3:31 pm

The top dial reading should be “unprecedented”.

GeoLurking
September 3, 2013 3:49 pm

Jimmy Haigh says:
September 3, 2013 at 11:25 am

“Climate scientists”. Definitely not the sharpest tools in the drawer…

Apparently, neither are some building designers…

EXPERTS yesterday said the hot ray of light reflected by the Walkie Talkie is on an “unprecedented” scale – as City A.M. found the heat on Eastcheap in mid-afternoon is hitting 70°C.
“I’m flabbergasted,” said Dr Philip Oldfield, an expert in tall buildings at the University of Nottingham’s Department of Architecture, who warned other parts of London could be hit by the light beam.
“At street level it’s unprecedented. The scary thing is that the light won’t always be on that part of the street. The sun angle will change through the next weeks and months – and in the winter the localised hotspot will have moved substantially.”
The Walkie Talkie casts an unnatural light on the street belowThe Walkie Talkie casts an unnatural light on the street belowThe Walkie Talkie casts an unnatural light on the street belowCity workers shield themselves from the ray of light
©City A.M. / Laura Lean
Yesterday City A.M. revealed how the curved shape of the building at 20 Fenchurch Street – now dubbed the Walkie Scorchie – is focussing an ultra-bright ray of light that has even melted parts of parked cars.

http://www.cityam.com/article/1378168692/exclusive-few-solutions-beam-hits-70-c

John Trigge
September 3, 2013 3:58 pm

I want the t-shirt.

Ted Clayton
September 3, 2013 4:02 pm

John West @ September 3, 2013 at 12:55 pm
“I especially like that the sun has multiple components.”
Those are vertical sliders, set progressively lower, like an audio-fade. ‘Down, down, down’.

September 3, 2013 4:28 pm

“Love the “Spinal Tap” reference Josh !!”
Could someone explain that to me please?

CRS, DrPH
September 3, 2013 4:44 pm

I see that they still haven’t found the “Sun Control” yet!

NothernEye
September 3, 2013 5:21 pm

Excellent! A highlight of grad school at Stanford was the annual Xmas bash, where the students wreaked anonymous revenge on their advisors. One year, for a petrology prof a bit-too-fond of models, the students built a “datas” machine that was all levers and dials and knobs, and produced endless rolls of narrow paper filled with numbers…….. Thanks Josh for the memories!

Owen in GA
September 3, 2013 6:01 pm

markstoval says:
September 3, 2013 at 4:28 pm
“Love the “Spinal Tap” reference Josh !!”
Could someone explain that to me please?

Look up “This is Spinal Tap” on IMDB, a cult classic mockumentary about the lives of a made up rock band called Spinal Tap. More would be saying too much.

Niff
September 3, 2013 6:24 pm

Josh,
The layers of satire, innuendo, and crushing reality are divinely inspired. Coming from an atheist I think I have had a conversion.
Priceless clarity.

Txomin
September 3, 2013 6:48 pm

Josh, my friend, you are good, very good.

TalentKeyHole Mole
September 3, 2013 8:17 pm

Love it! A masterpiece! Par Excellence. Sums it up.
LOL 🙂

Ill Tempered Klavier
September 3, 2013 8:23 pm

GlynnMhor says:
September 3, 2013 at 12:21 pm
Would James Hansen be one of the ‘knobs’?
More like a locking screw (ball) 😉 😉

topcu
September 3, 2013 8:26 pm

And now Deutsche Welle is airing Hans von Storch’s doubts: http://www.dw.de/climate-scientists-too-easily-jump-to-conclusions/a-17060565 .
Serious hedging of bets must be going on.

Editor
September 3, 2013 10:16 pm

markstoval says:
September 3, 2013 at 4:28 pm

“Love the “Spinal Tap” reference Josh !!”
Could someone explain that to me please?

The YouTube refs I found have been taken down due to copyright issues. One was posted on WUWT a few days ago. The reference is to music amps that have controls that go to 11 are better than those that only go to 10. Obviously.
See http://xkcd.com/670/ for the full analysis.

Bertram Felden
September 3, 2013 10:34 pm

This is one of the best cartoons you’ve ever done – the Spinal Tap 11, and especially the guy leaning over looking around the corner at the equaliser for the sun.

rogerknights
September 3, 2013 10:43 pm

markstoval says:
September 3, 2013 at 4:28 pm
“Love the “Spinal Tap” reference Josh !!”
Could someone explain that to me please?

BTW, technically, it was an allusion, not a reference, because Spinal Tap wasn’t named.

September 3, 2013 10:47 pm

I’ll second the request for a t-shirt, willing to order a dozen.
It could have date(s) of “discovery” on the back in chronological order and by “who”? Or that could be another cartoon altogether?

James Bull
September 3, 2013 11:52 pm

Now the big questions.
Is this cartoon going to be in “big oil” funded 2014 calender?
Can I place my order now? (already working out who to give one to)
and last but not least.
Is Anthony going to sent one to his friend Micky Mann? (as he appreciated the last one so much)
James Bull

Björn
September 4, 2013 12:22 am

Ahemm “…..the hotspot will have moved substantially.”
Suggest it be named Kevin , after the scientist who recently discovered the phenomena of the “world wandering hotspot” (:-})

Patrick
September 4, 2013 12:23 am

“D Matteson says:
September 3, 2013 at 1:17 pm
The CO2 knob reminds me of the heater control knob on an early 1950′s VW. You could turn it all the way on but still get very little heat.”
Reminds me of Land Rovers from the 1950’s too. No matter what you did with the heater, if one was fitted, it made no difference at all to cabin warmth. The trick was to wait for the engine and gearboxes to warm up.

Editor
September 4, 2013 4:45 am

Hi, many thanks for the kind comments.
Yes, I am sure this will make the 2014 Calendar. In the UK you can order a T Shirt here http://cartoonsbyjosh.spreadshirt.co.uk I will see about Tshirts in the US via Cafe Press or Anthony 😉

Editor
September 4, 2013 5:02 am

T shirt available at Cafe Press http://www.cafepress.com/cartoonsbyjosh

Editor
September 4, 2013 5:07 am

I think my earlier comment got lost! Here it is again (from memory)
Many thanks for the kind comments. I am sure the cartoon will make the 2014 Calendar. You can buy a Tshirt in the UK here http://cartoonsbyjosh.spreadshirt.co.uk
You can also now buy one in the US from Cafe Press I think, see above, and Anthony also now has the artwork so you may be able to buy through him if you prefer.
Thanks again 😉

Snotrocket
September 4, 2013 8:54 am

I vote this as Cartoon Of The Year!! Every time I look at it I find something else: some more irony. Brilliant (and, with permission, distributed to my sceptic mailing list).

Snotrocket
September 4, 2013 8:59 am

Actually….just had a thought….somewhere on that machine there must be a model number. May I suggest – 42?

Janice Moore
September 4, 2013 10:54 am

“Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it?”

Niff
September 4, 2013 6:45 pm

Janice….I think I wet myself….

Janice Moore
September 4, 2013 8:21 pm

Niff …. I hope it was worth it….. #(:))
I get a kick out of the British-American sub-theme, too. Primped, effeminate, British guy (East Anglia) with the super control knob; down-to-earth, manly, American guy (A-th-y W.) quietly pointing out the problem… .
Of course, we could have a reverse, American-British effect, too if we had a borderline psychotic, heavy featured, American (James Hansen) with a witty, cultured, Brit (Monckton or MANY of the guys who comment on WUWT).
JH: Duuuuuh………….. uh, dis thing, uh,…. it goes to, uh, ELEVEN (hyuck, hyuck).
Brit: My dear sir, you seem to have overlooked something…
*
*
*

September 4, 2013 11:04 pm

This is Josh’s best cartoon ever! I loved the tiny CO2 knob, the giant Water Vapour knob, the several sliding Sun controls on the yet to be discovered side, the long line of other computers fading into the distance….. The cartoon is a masterpiece!