As you may have noted, the rate at which I have posted new stories in the last couple of days has tapered off, and likely will remain at a lowered rate in the immediate future.
The reason is twofold:
1) Like many people in this country, I’m getting hit economically. My weather business needs my attention more than ever to keep it running and my family supported. The volume of email alone I get daily asking for advice, files, help with research etc. since starting the blog is overwhelming as it is. Often I find WUWT creeping into my business hours, and this can’t continue under the current economic situation. Thus I’m limiting my interaction to late nights and weekends.
2) I’ve realized that WUWT, while important in it’s own right, being now the number one climate related blog (in terms of traffic) on the web has also become a hungry monster for my time. So, what time I have had in the last few days has been focused on the surfacestations project. I’m making a push to get a majority of stations (my goal is at least 75%) surveyed so that a dataset with a better spatial distribution of stations exists. Right now we still have some big holes in it, particularly in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi.
Getting stations surveyed and this project database more complete is a much better use of my available spare time than moderating some of the daily philosophical arguments and news items of this blog. I hope my team of crack moderators will be able to fill in the gap and continue to offer postings of relevant stories while I focus on this.
John Goetz and Denise Norris have made some really valuable story contributions to this readership, as has Evan Jones. I hope they’ll be able to continue.
Some folks have commented that becuase I’ve posted my “How not to measure temperature…” series, that I’m only focused on finding the badly sited stations. While they are a dime a dozen and often visually entertaining, actually what we want to find are the BEST stations. Those are the CRN1 and 2 rated stations. Having a large and well distributed sample size of the best stations will help definitively answer the question about how much bias may exist as a result of the contribution of badly sited stations. Since the majorty of sttaions surveyed so far seem to be CRN 3,4,5 with CRN1,2 making up only 12% of the total surveyed stations thus far, it is important to increase the sample size.
So while WUWT will continue to have news and science items of interest, my focus will be getting surveys done, so we’ll see more items on the surfacestations project.
On a related note, I wish to sincerely thank all those that have generously donated to the surfacestations.org project to offset travel expenses. Thanks to that, recently I was able to complete all of the state of Nevada USHCN stations.
If you want to help, signup to help survey some stations. at www.surfacestations.org
Also look for some updated survey instructions soon. Thank you all for your help and consideration
– Anthony
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“” philw1776 (15:23:00) :
George – Loved the physics-cosmology post, very entertaining to us science types “”
Phil, thanks for the comment; I plan to add a good bit more relating to Black body radiation theory which is very much central to the basic question; is the planet warming up (dangerously) or not, and do humans have anything to do with it.
And although the scientists who come here may find it a little bit “childish”, I think it is important to help the non scientists who are every bit as concerned as we are, to appreciate that the central science is not hard to understand if it is explained to them in a manner they can grasp.
One thing is for sure; we scientists are not going to prevail in this battle without the support of others equally concerned, who aren’t scientists. We need to help them gain confidence in the positions they are taking too.
Frankly I am disgusted by the stance some scientists are taking; simply to keep their grant dollars coming in from somewhere.
I don’t know beans about PDOs and ENSOs but I’m confident in the climatologists who do; but I do understand thermodynamics, and radiation theory; a good bit about atomic and molecular spectroscopy, not much chemistry, and I do understand feedback, having worked for decades in analog circuit design.
Luckily my computer does my donkey work for me ( Optical Mouse Optical design), so while it is thinking for me, I can pop in here and try to help others.
George
Pierre, while a straight shooter (or talker) may feel good about being brutally honest and capable of running a ship, what would the result be if a different leadership (or communication) style were applied that incorporated a more egalitarian tit for tat? What size ship would you be on then? What cargo would you be hauling then? What change could you bring about then? How many would you convince to follow you then? I was just suggesting what grandma always said, “You can catch lots more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. Often times, the leadership style being used makes the business of leadership change from “I am the leader of this business” to “I am the leader of a growing business”. I have a hunch that Anthony’s numbers are growing because of an egalitarian leadership style. Why not follow his example?
One of the best side effects of this blog with it’s broad readership is that it gives those of us in the peanut gallery a sense of hope, that all is not lost and that humanity is not a flock of sheep blindly following the Algoreans over the cliff. It’s good to know that there are a wide variety of people, from a wide variety of places who disagree with AGW. It’s nice to know I am not a lonesome kook who just wastes his time spitting into the wind. This blog has developed a sense of community for the regular readers, such a sense that one is not afraid to make a post even if it means we may expose our own lack of knowledge of a subject. We might even attempt some humor from time to time.
On the subject of Google Adsense, unfortunately Anthony would have no control over those ads. You would likely see ads promoting AGW propoganda books and such. The only way to eliminate that is to constantly monitor those ads and block each specific URL link. That is an impossible task.
Hey Anthony – and everyone and that includes people I disagree with too –
This is my most precious link. Diamonds scattered on the floor here, as I said a while back, so long as we keep the right balance between building science and building community.
My own website readership has grown in leaps and bounds and I’m sure it’s in no small measure due to links here. I too was once an ardent AGW. I’ve learned so much. And being semi-retired, I’ve got time on my hands.
I try to see what parts of the science need taking further, and how I (self-taught and still a beginner – like the best! – like Willis Eschenbach!) can help – and from this, our forum has grown. I recently “hived off” an interesting topic that was OT for Steve Mac on his website (“Co2 residence time”), but was clearly of interest to several readers. I’d like to offer this facility in general – any topic that’s OT to your thread but germane to reclaiming Climate Science, encourage folk to post them over atour forum.
I’m still thinking about how we can get skeptical Climate Science onto a proper wiki basis, and I’m going to start a thread on this at our Forum. I love overseeing the forum but want to see the path beyond a forum where “the buck stops with me”. I guess many are thinking about this blog Anthony – can we move it into being a blog owned by the climate skeptics’ community – without losing the personal touch and quality!
Hope this helps.
Please allow me to try one more time.
I am simply agreeing with Anthony. That’s all.
“Surveying stations…is much better use of my available spare time than moderating some of the daily philosophical arguments and news items of this blog.”
Anthony has to make a call, and appears to me he wishes to focus on the meatier, less anecdotal (philosophical) stuff. And whether or not I donate, is my own business, and no one else’s. Again for those who disagree with my words:
http://www.ccacc.ca/
pyromancer76
“I will subscribe $10.00 per month — an annual subscription amount to a quality journal — to keep WUWT going. I hope others will join me. ”
Well, if Anthony should decide to levy a subscription fee – fine, then I’d pay it. But if he continues to offer it for free…then I say keep the money and give it to help starving kids.
There are so many options to raise money that Anthony could resort to – some have been mentioned here already by other readers.
Concerning leadership,
I’ve been running my own business for 15 years now, and doing quite well, thanks. Leadership isn’t about always blowing with the wind. In fact it’s a lot about being tolerant of people with other views and not assuming positions of haughtiness w.r.t. other folks.
But thanks for the business advice anyway.
I’m no scientist, but I can follow directions. I’m on the MS gulf coast, I’ll do whatever I can to check as many stations as possible down here and possibly next door in Alabama. Anthony, the work you are doing is more of a contribution to our society and the preservation of our way of life than maybe you realize. Thank you!
Not trying to steal readership from the estimable WUWT, but may I suggest an apropos post of mine on the general topic.
http://westinstenv.org/sosf/2008/11/21/no-trend-in-idaho-snowpack-over-the-last-75-years/
Comments welcome. And if I come up with more posts potentially suitable for WUWT, how might I shoot them at you all?
AnonyMoose (08:57:34) :
It would be OK with me to have ads under all the right-column stuff. Particularly if the ads are automagically selected based upon the content. It will be entertaining to see how often GW paranoia ads appear versus rational weather ads[…].
It would not only be entertaining, but I would find it pleasingly ironic that this site would be supported in part by AGW money!
Add some ads!
Down here in Austraya, I find I am also having to devote more time to my business than in enjoying and learning from this great site. As a non scientist I am trying to seek information from places without their own agendas and I would say this is most definately one of the best. Thank you for your work, Anthony
By the way, with only a few days to go before summer, we had a great snowfall last Sunday where I am in Orange NSW. Max. temp for the day was 8 degrees celcius.
Hope the economy improves for you soon
You in Australia do you not have economy crisis ?!
Dear Anthony,
you did such a great job, with WUWT and surfacestations.org,
You really should concentrate on your primare business and your family, indeed.
Everything else, of course, has to pace down.
Do wish you the very best.
Klausb
Anthony
I was directed to this site via Christopher Booker’s regular, stimulating and erudite articles in the Sunday Telegraph in which he so frequently mentions the WUWT site. You have a lot to answer for as I am now an (almost) fully committed AWG denier, to the despair of all my friends who have to listen to me quoting the experts on this site at the same time slagging off the European Union. You and Booker between you are worth your weight in gold and I trust the symbiotic arrangement will continue and flourish.
Tony W
….that should have been AGW. Mea culpa!