Whooda thunk it? A movie with a plot line that is reminiscent of Dr. James Hansen’s testimony before congress in June 1988.
If any of you have ever been in Washington DC during the summertime, you’ll be able to relate to this. Senator Timothy Wirth made sure that room was “steamy”. This transcript excerpt is from PBS series Frontline which aired a special in April 2007.
TIMOTHY WIRTH: We called the Weather Bureau and found out what historically was the hottest day of the summer. Well, it was June 6th or June 9th or whatever it was. So we scheduled the hearing that day, and bingo, it was the hottest day on record in Washington, or close to it.
DEBORAH AMOS: [on camera] Did you also alter the temperature in the hearing room that day?
TIMOTHY WIRTH: What we did is that we went in the night before and opened all the windows, I will admit, right, so that the air conditioning wasn’t working inside the room. And so when the- when the hearing occurred, there was not only bliss, which is television cameras and double figures, but it was really hot.[Shot of witnesses at hearing]
Watch the Frontline video here.
So what exactly does happen to the mindset and health of a bunch of people when you lock then in a hot, steamy, room under the premise of teaching them about global warming?
From Tim Blair, It’s the greatest global warming movie never seen:
A former professor concocts a brutal experiment in order to get the word out on the effects of global warming. By trapping six people in an urban Turkish bathhouse, he vows to overheat his hostages unless his global-warming hypothesis is published on the front page of his local paper.
Starring Val Kilmer as the professor. Apparently The Chaos Experiment opened in just two cinemas before hitting the “use these as drink coasters” bins at DVD outlets. A small plot flaw, evident even before seeing the film: the deranged academic had to threaten people before his warming theories were published?
Gosh, I wonder if this plot line would work with a closed room with some industrial strength air conditioning and some NYT and Nature editors? 😉
Here is the official movie website.
But apparently it has been released now under a different name aka The Chaos Experiment ?
WOOD-TV writes that it was filmed in Michigan. Your tax dollars at work:
“The Chaos Experiment” is one of 34 films shot in Michigan since tax incentives were put in place to lure filmmakers to Michigan.
I wonder if Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow could feel the volatility of this global warming movie during filming?
By either name, it seems that it doesn’t even appear in Yahoo’s Movie Box Office Ranking for any of the last three weeks. With over 100 films listed, “straight to video” might be too kind.
At the IMDB Movie database one reviewer writes:
I rent DVD’s to pass the time on airplanes. Sadly, staring out at the clouds would have been better entertainment than this.
And probably more instructive as to how the atmosphere works.
h/t to Kate at SDA
I’m so glad these ecotheists wasted all that (taxpayer-funded) energy in mid-summer Washington by deliberately opening the windows overnight.
Gee. They’re so environmentally careful. /sarchasm – The gaping hole between a liberal, morality, and the truth.
??? Now that’s weird.
Talking about videos. Not Evil Jut Wrong premiers in October!
http://www.noteviljustwrong.com
Please remember that this little stunt helped launch Timothy Wirth into his current position as president of the UN Foundation. Aren’t you glad that personal ethics are so highly valued in the left wing world? I’m sure the UN appreciates this joker.
Here’s a good review of the movie:
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2009/08/11/val-kilmers-global-warming-thriller-worse-than-the-happening/
So apparently scare tactics are ok for the AWG debate, but off limits for the healthcare debate:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/15/AR2009081502264.html?hpid=topnews
I grew up in Northern VA, and typically July and August are much hotter than June.
Wow. [snip – borderline, but . . . ~ Evan] He has fallen a long ways since Top Secret!.
I just want to know, who thought this movie was a good idea? Seriously, who says “Hey! I’ve got a great idea! Lets tie global warming and Turkish baths together.” If I put 10 random words together, it would still be a better idea than this movie.
No wonder movie ticket sales are down.
And it was filmed in Michigan: the only state that saw its population drop without a natural disaster involved. This ruins all those commercials I saw with Jeff Bridges in it telling me how good Michigan was for businesses.
“We called the Weather Bureau and found out what historically was the hottest day of the summer. Well, it was June 6th or June 9th or whatever it was. So we scheduled the hearing that day, and bingo, it was the hottest day on record in Washington, or close to it.”
This statement makes very little sense. No date in early June would ever be “historically the hottest day of the summer”. July, August and September are all warmer than June in DC. The hearing wasn’t on 6 or 9 June but 23 June. And although it reached 36°C that day, the hottest day on record in DC is some 5°C hotter than that. I rather think that the senator has misremembered.
It would have played better if they’d written in the goofy statistics, or maybe that’s how they sold the script to the producers?
This movie is really quite interesting. I don’t know whether to ream it for showing the worst possible way to test the psychological effects of AGW, or to applaud it for portraying ecofanatic AGW alarmists as psychopaths.
And it’s saddening, because I liked Val Kilmer TT_TT
Whatever happened to Neve Campbell’s film about global thermaggedon? It was filmed here in Calgary. They must have simulated all the warming, as there has been very little here for some time now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Regarding the heating of the room business; win by any means necessary, truth be damned. Sad. Revealing. Cowardly. Dangerous. Morally bankrupt. Incompetent. Megalomaniacal. Ignorant. Did I miss any?
I have been thinking this theme would make a great motion picture.
Maybe they just need better scriptwriting.
Well……….they tried.
Actually i think Mr. Wirth has an excellent concept, we just need to expand on it a bit. I suggest that all air conditioning units be permanently removed from the Capitol and all Congressional and Senate office space. We could also remove the heat as well, although we’d probably have to install some heat wrap on the plumbing to keep the water lines from freezing up on the coldest days. The energy savings would be mostly symbolic but, by creating the most uncomfortable conditions possible we might be able to discourage the mouth breathing bozos from hanging around dreaming up idiotic legislation to afflict the rest of us. To enhance the affect the government motor pool could be replaced with Smart cars, all the restrooms could be equipped with TP dispensers programmed to release one sheet every 20 minutes, big screen plasma monitors could be placed in each room displaying on a continuous loop the collected works of Janeane Garafalo, well you get the idea. Doesn’t this sound like a plan we can all get behind?
Yep, straight to video. I just Netflixed it.
Janeane Garafalo?
That one Will get “fast-tracked” to the Supremes.
Even I have to pause on That.
That something so utterly juvenile was actually effective is amusing and disturbing at the same time–more disturbing though.
Come on, chicks in bikinis in a steam room, what’s not to like? We’re talking high concept here.
Thats soo funny. What a shockingly bad idea for a movie!
In the trailer when the police were laughing at the scientists “millions will die” claim (I am sure Ive heard such claims before), I could almost picture James Hansen sitting there!
If only it was that hard to get global warming papers published, I dont think anyone will be getting steamed very soon!
I’m shaking my head in disbelief after watching that Frontline segment.
They’re not only admitting the first political snowball that launched the scare of the global warming avalanche was a fraud, they’re laughing about it.
How is that science? How can they then stand there with a straight face, and say it’s about the science? Are we supposed to believe it was just that one time? Cause these guys laughing about defrauding the American political machine that one time, they’d never do it again, right?
And the arrogance of these pompous little monkeys. They’re saying “we ripped you off. Isn’t that hilarious? Aren’t we clever?” It doesn’t even enter their minds that somebody watching who’s facing the biggest tax in American history as a result of their shenanigans might not get the joke. They don’t even care. The only opinions that matter of course, are those of any others who might think like them.
Did you ever see the South Park episode called Smug Alert? These guys are sniffers. If you saw that ep you’ll know what I mean.
A few years ago, the warmists thought Hansen’s deception was a clever stunt. How different it seems now. But what if all this maneuvering was unnecessary?
In 1917, Albert Einstein first proposed the process of “stimulated emission” that makes lasers possible. Today lasers are involved in countless scientific applications, but who knew that lasers could literally save the world? At the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the worlds most powerful laser has been built as part of a project to create fusion energy using a technique called inertial confinement fusion.
The fusion energy thus created will be virtually limitless and pollution free. Gone will be the need for fossil fuel that was imposed upon us by the manipulations of Standard Oil early in this century. The politicized agendas that have swirled around energy will be moot, and the human race can focus on more important issues. The use of lasers will make this possible within a much shorter timetable than was predicted for magnetic confinement technology.
https://lasers.llnl.gov/programs/psa/fusion_energy/
You can also see Senator Timothy Wirth say it here in this video starting at 0:51
All the more evidence…that we give these people WAY too much credit.
Just because they are senators, NASA Goddard directors….or even presidents [look at our current one or the previous one]….does not make them that SMART.
They just happen to be in control…by the luck of the draw.
That Wirth would admit such shenanigans openly and then laugh about it….means, folks….he ain’t ALL THAT…upstairs where it counts!
These fools….these court jesters…THIS is what is in power????
LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN. TIME FOR AN OVERTHROW.
CHRIS
Norfolk, VA, USA
Brandon Dobson (23:06:32) :
Brandon, I appreciate what you are trying to say here. Standard Oil did pull some stunts in its day. However, it is quite a stretch to claim the need for fossil fuel was imposed by Standard Oil.
After all, mankind has depended on fossil fuels from the first wood fire.
And last time I checked, fusion is not ready for prime time energy production.
If you think the HealthCare town halls got steamy, wait until this winter hits like the DMI graph on the sidebar indicates.
Al Go Running, leaving Waxman stuck to the frozen goalpost.
You can’t move the goalpost when the ground is froze harder than concrete.
If you can’t get your theory across without such ridiculous theatrics then maybe the theory needs re-examining.
You just know these people flunked “plays well with others” in kindergarten…
I wonder if the writters of this movie locked the producers in a room full of scripts until their movie idea was approved.
Anyway, I am listening to “Its raining men” from the Weather Girls. It gives you funnier and more accurate predictions thatn any of the 23 climate models described on the IPCC AR4.
@ Elizabeth (19:45:46) :
“I have been thinking this theme would make a great motion picture.
Maybe they just need better scriptwriting.”
I think you’re right, Elizabeth. Add some car chases, throw in a few aliens with chain saws and hockey masks, blow up a few buildings, and change the plotline to the destruction of Cairo by a glacier. Oh, and some gratuitous brief nudity.
That would fix it right up.
Wade (18:57:59) :
A minor quibble with your statement…
“And it was filmed in Michigan: the only state that saw its population drop without a natural disaster involved.”
North Dakota has experienced a population decline. Population was 681K (rouded) in 1930, and 642K in 2000.
Source: http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/resapport/states/northdakota.pdf
On the subject of fusion energy, we are still decades away from the first commercial reactor. It is hoped that “ignition” could be acheived by the 2020’s, but a commercial reactor sometime in the 2040’s.
However, this is not the main problem. Even if a fusion reaction generator was built tommorow, sufficient tritium does not exist to fuel the world. Tritium is a short lived isotope that is not found in nature and has to be manufactured from nuclear reactors. The goal is that once the first fusion reactor becomes operational, it would generate the tritium for the next generations, and so on, but it would probably take several decades more to achieve the required amounts.
Nice idea though.
UK Sceptic (00:39:44) wrote:
If you can’t get your theory across without such ridiculous theatrics then maybe the theory needs re-examining.
Shades of the pap that they teach at Sunday school.
IanM
I wish people (RACook, Arn Riewe, etc) wouldn’t pollute this blog with their ideological claptrap. Right-wingers have clearly zip-all claim to being more ethical, moral or upholding of the truth than left-wingers. Both are just as guilty of believing what suits their own agenda and reframing the facts that don’t fit.
Oh my, what a surprise that many of these pretend “planet-savers” are hypocrites who are either making money from the scare or think that government has to mandate them to reduce their carbon-high rather than them doing it voluntarily. But many of these snake-oil sales opportunists were/are capitalist opportunists like Enron or Goldman Sachs. And many more are nuclear greenwashers. There’s something for everyone, whether capitalist or anti-capitalist, in this climate hype.
But if we want to get people to read beyond the alarmist headlines and think about the actual facts then it doesn’t help to lower the debate into facile left-versus-right ideologies: You merely give the opposition the impression that you’d spread misinformation just to avoid paying taxes. It’s already quite vomit-inducing enough to see so many on both sides claim to care about poverty in the 3rd world.
Hey, it just appears the Alarmists were smarter back then. This past winter a number of the Alarmist events ended up being snowed out. If you want to have an event that supports the crazy idea that we are all doomed due to hot weather, it makes a lot more sense to schedule in in the summer.
That being said, do you really think you should believe someone who tells you the sky is falling who appears to be this stupid?
This looks like it will be a better movie. “Not evil – just wrong”. I don’t know anything else about it apart from what is here. Someone put it on another thread so I thought I’d put it up here too. It’s a documentary and it gets released in October.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1988450
It was a chap called Trevor who pointed this movie out on Tips and Notes. Here’s the website.
http://www.noteviljustwrong.com/
Not Evil Just Wrong is the film Al Gore and Hollywood don’t want you to see. It reveals the true human cost of Global Warming hysteria.
Not Evil Just Wrong shows how Global Warming alarmism and the tax increases that go along with it are going to increase costs for working families during one of the worst recessions in living memory.
Al Gore and his allies want to ban fossil fuels in the developed world. This would devastate the American economy and drive jobs to India and China.
Be part of the resistance. With your help we can bypass the barriers to distribution that Hollywood and the mainstream media put up to stop you from hearing the truth.
Be part of the premiere night by hosting a screening in your home, community center or church. Be part of the cinematic tea party movement and tell Al Gore and the elites that you are fed up with taxes and restrictions that threaten jobs across the country.
THE FIGHTBACK STARTS HERE.
Poor timing. If they re-released the movie as “The Steam Experiment,” they might pick up all us steam-punk dudes. Yo.
.
Vincent (07:01:17) :
On the subject of fusion energy, we are still decades away from the first commercial reactor. It is hoped that “ignition” could be achieved by the 2020’s, but a commercial reactor sometime in the 2040’s.
Two things will happen a thousand years from now –
1. At the satellite era measured rate of 3.2 mm/yr, the sea level will have risen 10 feet (unless the interglacial has ended).
2. It will be hoped that fusion “ignition” could be achieved by the 3020’s, but a commercial reactor sometime in the 3040’s.
This is the reason why I am so giddy about returning to Pendleton to start school again. I get to change my registration from Democrat to Independent, (or maybe the Libertarian party). I still can’t stomach the idea of joining the moral majority big brother to my bedroom and babywomb party. The minute they drop that unscientific claptrap from their party planks will be the day I join the Republican party.
I’ve just found a website by a physicist who makes James Hansen looks like a skeptic. According to his calculations, we have already baked in a 26F temperature rise which we are committed to even if we shut down the entire economy tomorrow because his calculations have shown a 140 year time lag. With business as usual, by 2027 we are committed to a 35F temperature increase. Al Gore will be sick with envy when he reads of 300foot sea level rises. It is amazing that such stupidity exists. However, if you like some comic relief it is worth a read.
http://mb-soft.com/public3/global.html
Today there is 100,000 km*km more ice in the Arctic than there was on this day last year and ony about 6,000 less than there was in 2005.
Looks like the doomsayers were wrong … again.
Thank you to Trevor and Jimmy Haigh (08:49:25) : for bringing this to my attention.
I hope this movie delivers and steers clear of the bias….but it sure looks like a good attempt to FIGHT BACK!
Hey Crosspatch, interesting report on the ice. You mind posting that link?
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
savethesharks (11:55:29) :
See the latest comments in this thread. Coment 252 in particular. That comment was posted after the initial number of -55469 for yesterday’s melt figure was release. It has been since revised downward to -49219 (about 6,000 less) so it looks like 2008 yesterday was pretty much exactly what it was on the same date in 2005.
“so it looks like 2008 yesterday”
Meant 2009, duh!
Crosspatch (13:45:03) -sounds likea job for the Catlin folks to make a Polar visit!
Or Hansen can finish the trip trough the NW passage with the folks that are trying to sail it this year-he might make a good sea cook….
(he seems to be good at cooking things…)
old salt (06:38:04) :
If you don’t consider the weather in North Dakota as a natural disaster you haven’t been there.
I watched most of the Kilmer movie last night. Occasionally I check out a lemon which is so bad that I can’t bear to watch all of it. The “artistic” scenes of people in a steam bath require that you have a FF button to get through them to arrive at the forgettable interrogation scenes of Val Kilmer as the nutty professer.
But as wa all like to predict things here, I hereby predict that the crazy climate scientist will be a “B” movie “type” explored by writers for years to come. If you watch it, just keep your finger poised over the FF button.
Jack Simmons (00:11:16) :
Admittedly, Standard Oil was not the only player. But they and a handful of companies who would profit, dismantled the electric train, electric auto and trolleycar infrastructure, and installed the fossil fuel debacle that we know today. These facts are easy Googling – but ignorance is bliss for those unaware of history.
“After all, mankind has depended on fossil fuels from the first wood fire.”
That’s hardly an apt comparision. Should we huddle around campfires in this era of advanced technology? Some would have us do so until the last drop of fossil fuel has been wrung from the earth, leaving nothing for future generations, before a replacement source of energy has been found.
“And last time I checked, fusion is not ready for prime time energy production.”
Did you visit the LLNL website? https://lasers.llnl.gov/programs/psa/fusion_energy/
The lasers will be running by 2010. Were you expecting fusion energy this week?
Vincent (07:01:17) :
Tritium can be recycled during the fusion process, as detailed here:
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0029-5515/40/3Y/311
http://www.science.doe.gov/sbir/awards_abstracts/sttr/cycle5/phase1/abstract/11.htm
And the D-T process is not the only one possible, just the easiest at this point in time:
http://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/article/35/
Here’s more information on producing tritium from lithium, a common element:
http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/fusion_dt/fusion_dt.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium
Careful, you might learn something! Thank you for letting me rock your world.
Brandon Dobson,
My point was that we are several decades away from commercial fusion power and probably a century from converting most of the worlds generation in this manner. If you have evidence to the contrary I would be please to see it. However, citing theoretical nuclear reactions doesn’t cut it.
I’m afraid you haven’t rocked my world for me, but please feel free to try again.
It’s always a bit of light relief spotting either deliberate or ‘accidental’ spin on any topic. The AMSR-E graphs have always been a favourite of mine; why do they have the origin at 2msqm?
The effect isn’t quite the same when you drop it to 0…
http://tinyurl.com/o985to
Cheers
Mark
As I do not know the historical facts about the birth of the global warming theory, perhaps some of you could explain how Dr.James Hansen was able to take his theory to the US congress, back in 1988. What did it happen then?.
He must have felt rewarded when, 9 years after, it happened the 97-98 El Nino.
Was reality some way close the chaos experiment shown above? Who take him to be heard by the congress?. It would be interesting to know the whole story, because by knowing it we could, perhaps, to descipher the motivations of such a “creed”.
How about a global warming movie where they decide to fix the problem by turning their air conditions around in the window, then turn them up full blast until it gets cold outside?
We’ve been 10 to 20 years from viable fusion for as long as I can remember, (over 45 years). I’m not expecting a great deal of change.
DaveE.
Wow. Regurgitating Tim Blair. This site has really hit a new low
REPLY: No, that would be if we started using Monbiot.
John Galt (17:12:39) :
“How about a global warming movie where they decide to fix the problem by turning their air conditions around in the window, then turn them up full blast until it gets cold outside?”
That would still be Anthropogenic. I blame the genera Hymenoptera. How about we just teach – or genetically engineer if the greens will let us – butterflies to start on the upstroke so the suck the air in instead of blowing it out and causing all these hurricanes?
You tell em Brandon Dobson
Had the electric train, electric auto and trolleycar infrastructure survived we would be in electric heaven right now. And what your “run of the mill blissful ignorant” doesn’t know is that electricity is produced in major part from “coal” which is not a fossil fuel and does not cause Global Warming and the bears in the North Pole would not be dying in droves if we only had used coal.
Or is it?
Oops!…I did it again!
I contradicted myself.
Brandon,” throw me a bone brother” what was the advantage of electricity again.