Author Archives: Alec Rawls

From Schmidt 2005 to Miller 2012: the “not needed” excuse for omitted variable fraud

Posted on April 29, 2012

Guest post by Alec Rawls Miller et al. 2012 recently provided some pretty strong evidence for a solar driver of climate. “This is the first time anyone has clearly identified the specific onset of the cold times marking the start … Continue reading →

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Posted in Paleoclimatology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 192 Comments

The ugly battle between rural residents and alternative energy mandates in California

Posted on April 6, 2012

Seems the Mojave evictions WERE to make way for solar and wind projects Guest post by Alec Rawls In 2006 California’s Senate Bill 107 codified a requirement that by 2010 all electricity retailers in the state were to procure 20% … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate ugliness, Energy, Government idiocy, solar power, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , | 123 Comments

New EPA rule will block all new coal-electric generation

Posted on March 28, 2012

Guest post by Alec Rawls The upcoming rule: … will require any new power plant to emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of electricity produced. The average U.S. natural gas plant, which emits 800 to … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Government idiocy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 158 Comments

President no longer worried about CO2: focus on alternative energy is economic says Obama, no mention of climate

Posted on March 19, 2012

Guest post by Alec Rawls “President no longer worried about CO2!” That’s what the headlines should have read last week after Obama presented an elaborate argument that alternative energy is the only viable response to high energy prices without ever … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon dioxide, Energy | Tagged , | 235 Comments

Aussie government proposes unlimited speech regulation, names climate skeptics and Labor critics as targets

Posted on March 15, 2012

Guest post by Alec Rawls Andrew Bolt has been blogging for the past week about the totalitarian tendencies in the just released “Media Inquiry” commissioned by Australia’s Labor government. This “Finkelstein Report” advocates unlimited regulation of virtually all published and … Continue reading →

Posted in censorship, Climate ugliness | Tagged , , , , , , , | 188 Comments

Omitted variable fraud: vast evidence for solar climate driver rates one oblique sentence in AR5

Posted on February 22, 2012

Guest post by Alec Rawls “Expert review” of the First Order Draft of AR5 closed on the 10th. Here is the first paragraph of my submitted critique: My training is in economics where we are very familiar with what statisticians … Continue reading →

Posted in IPCC, Solar | Tagged , , , , , , , | 514 Comments

Comedy gold: APS president attacks “inaccurate characterization” of APS position, doesn’t realize he’s attacking an APS quote

Posted on February 8, 2012

Guest Post by Alec Rawls When German ex-climate-alarmist Fritz Vahrenholt came out last week as a climate skeptic, he related his moment of epiphany, when he was firsthand witness of the alarmists’ sheer disregard for error: Vahrenholt’s skepticism started when … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 45 Comments

Regulatory Czar wants to use copyright protection mechanisms to shut down rumors and conspiracy theories

Posted on January 20, 2012

Guest Post by Alec Rawls As Congress considers vastly expanding the power of copyright holders to shut down fair use of their intellectual property, this is a good time to remember the other activities that Obama’s “regulatory czar” Cass Sunstein … Continue reading →

Posted in Climategate, Government idiocy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 256 Comments

The dehydration and bottled water debacle

Posted on November 19, 2011

There’s a story making the rounds on websites, some newspapers, and wire services like UPI saying that the EU has  banned any statement (such as on bottled water) that “regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk … Continue reading →

Posted in Ridiculae | Tagged , , , , , , , | 93 Comments

Explaining Muller vs. Muller: is BEST blissfully unaware of cosmic-ray-cloud theory?

Posted on October 28, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls Here is the puzzle, as noted by Nigel Calder and others: how can BEST insist that a modicum of additional evidence of late 20th century warming should put skepticism of the CO2-warming theory to rest, … Continue reading →

Posted in Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature | Tagged , , | 136 Comments

Transcript of Andrew Bolt’s “Carbon Sunday” interview with Richard Lindzen

Posted on July 11, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls Anthony posted the video earlier. Professor Lindzen as casually bemused dragon-slayer. Highly quotable, so I thought I’d create a transcript. Here is Lindzen’s damning conclusion (after demolishing any scientific basis for Australia’s new carbon tax): … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 60 Comments

Is the Corps of Engineers forcibly reverting floodplain to its natural state?

Posted on June 26, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls That’s the eye-popping thesis suggested by Joe Herring at American Thinker, and his prima facie evidence, while thin, is also hard to get around. The key fact is this: On February 3, 2011, a series … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 86 Comments

Facepalm: More casual death wishes from Australia

Posted on June 22, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls Jill Singer, long time Aussie talking head: I’m prepared to keep an open mind and propose another stunt for climate sceptics – put your strong views to the test by exposing yourselves to high concentrations … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate ugliness | 62 Comments

Silly Nazi hijinks: let’s tattoo deniers “for the grandchildren”

Posted on June 9, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls Richard “bonehead” Glover, radio talker and 20 year columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, dares to be outrageously conventional: Surely it’s time for climate-change deniers to have their opinions forcibly tattooed on their bodies. There … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 90 Comments

Stop checking the facts: “Your Internet search has just helped kill the planet”

Posted on June 6, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls This could explain a few things. Greens are against searching for information. To save the planet, only follow safe links from Joe Romm, Andrew Revkin, John Cook and RealClimate. Searching bad. Vewwy vewwy bad: It … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon footprint | Tagged , , | 38 Comments

Yes, impossibly stupid “weather panic” IS the new normal

Posted on June 3, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls Is Newsweek actually heeding the instruction of Linnaeus to “know thyself”? Their latest panic-mongering cover seems pretty self aware. Panic is a loss of reason: pan•ic (pænɪk), noun: a sudden, overpowering terror, often affecting many … Continue reading →

Posted in Alarmism, media | Tagged , , , | 121 Comments

“May snow depths are deeper than anything we have seen in the last 45 years”

Posted on May 29, 2011

That’s from the avalanche center in the Tetons, and here is a current web-cam view up Yosemite Valley towards still-closed Tioga Pass (in the left background): AP has a nice roundup of late snow and snowpack news (including the Teton … Continue reading →

Posted in records, snowfall, Weather | 215 Comments

“People underestimate the power of models. Observational evidence is not very useful.”

Posted on May 16, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls Andrew Orlowski at the UK Register has an anecdotal account of Downing College’s skeptics-vs-believers mash-up. Ace of Spades pulled the juiciest bit: In short, the day lined up Phil Jones, oceanographer Andrew Watson, and physicist … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmic rays | Tagged , , , , , | 132 Comments

Solar warming and ocean equilibrium, Part 3: Solanki and Schuessler respond

Posted on April 7, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls Solar physicist Sami Solanki and his colleagues at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research helped pioneer the use of cosmogenic isotopes from ice cores to create a proxy record for solar activity going … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 151 Comments

Does solar activity have to KEEP going up to cause warming? Mike Lockwood responds

Posted on March 22, 2011

Guest post by Alec Rawls My first post on this subject remarked on the number of scientists who assert that late 20th century global warming cannot have been driven by the sun because solar activity was not trending upwards at … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , , | 117 Comments