Parents, please encourage your children to become “science experts.” The perks are excellent – prestige, travel, publicity, conferences – your fifteen minutes of fame. And all you have to do is make bigger claims than the last expert.
Here are a few favorite gems :
March 10, 2006: It’s official: Solar minimum has arrived. Sunspots have all but vanished. Solar flares are nonexistent. The sun is utterly quiet.
This week researchers announced that a storm is coming–the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). “The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one,” she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/10mar_stormwarning.htm
Dec. 21, 2006: Evidence is mounting: the next solar cycle is going to be a big one.
see captionSolar cycle 24, due to peak in 2010 or 2011 “looks like its going to be one of the most intense cycles since record-keeping began almost 400 years ago,” says solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. He and colleague Robert Wilson presented this conclusion last week at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/21dec_cycle24.htm
OSLO, Feb. 29, 2008 (Xinhua) — The polar cap in the Arctic may well disappear this summer due to the global warming, Dr. Olav Orheim, head of the Norwegian International Polar Year Secretariat, said on Friday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/01/content_7696460.htm
27-Aug-2007
Will oceans surge 59 centimetres this century – or 25 metres?
When Al Gore predicted that climate change could lead to a 20-foot rise in sea levels, critics called him alarmist. After all, the International Panel on Climate Change, which receives input from top scientists, estimates surges of only 18 to 59 centimetres in the next century. But a study led by James Hansen, the head of the climate science program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and a professor at Columbia University, suggests that current estimates for how high the seas could rise are way off the mark – and that in the next 100 years melting ice could sink cities in the United States to Bangladesh
Glaciers on Snowdon’ warning by climate expert
Jan 12 2010 by Rhodri Clark, Western Mail
THIS winter’s prolonged cold spell could be a taste of things to come for Wales – with glaciers a possibility within 40 years. That’s the chilly message from a leading Welsh climate expert who has warned that global warming could paradoxically trigger a collapse in temperatures in western Europe.
The Cooling World
Newsweek, April 28, 1975
Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. They concede that some of the more spectacular solutions proposed, such as melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers, might create problems far greater than those they solve. But the scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are even prepared to take the simple measures of stockpiling food or of introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic projections of future food supplies. The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.
http://www.denisdutton.com/cooling_world.htm
Proof of life on Mars by year-end, says NASA expert
Washington, Jan 16, 2010 (PTI) Is there life on Mars? The most intriguing question for everyone on the Earth would be answered by American space scientists by the end of this year, a NASA expert has claimed.
According to David McKay, chief of astrobiology at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, the fact that Mars has bred life will be confirmed this year and the historic discovery will not be made on the Mars, but here on Earth using the chunks of the red planet.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/471015_Proof-of-life-on-Mars-by-year-end–says-NASA-expert
4 January 2007
2007 – forecast to be the warmest year yet
2007 is likely to be the warmest year on record globally, beating the current record set in 1998, say climate-change experts at the Met Office. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2007/pr20070104.html
Hot summer on the way, predicts Met
Sunday 8 April 2007
Britain set to enjoy another sizzling summer after new evidence from the Met Office suggested above average temperatures for the season. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/apr/08/weather.theobserver
Climate could warm to record levels in 2010
10 December 2009
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2009/pr20091210b.html
From The Sunday Times January 10, 2010
“This will be the warmest winter in living memory, the data has already been recorded. For your information, we take the highest 15 readings between November and March and then produce an average. As November was a very seasonally warm month, then all the data will come from those readings.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/dominic_lawson/article6982310.ece
Jan, 2008
Under my plan of a cap and trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, even, you know, regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydqg7ThZB04
November, 2009 GORE: It definitely is, and it’s a relatively new one. People think about geothermal energy – when they think about it at all – in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places there are these incredibly hot rocks, ’cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees, and the crust of the earth is hot …
Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past Monday, 20 March 2000 According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”. “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html
1998 Was Warmest Year Of Millenium, Climate Researchers Report ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 1999) — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Researchers at the Universities of Massachusetts and Arizona who study global warming have released a report strongly suggesting that the 1990s were the warmest decade of the millennium, with 1998 the warmest year so far. Researchers have also found that the warming in the 20th century counters a 1,000-year-long cooling trend. The study, by Michael Mann and Raymond Bradley of the University of Massachusetts and Malcolm Hughes of the University of Arizona, appears in the March 15 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union. The research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/03/990304052546.htm
December 14, 2008 “The time for delay is over; the time for denial is over,” Obama said on Tuesday after meeting with former Vice President Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming. “We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now that this is a matter of urgency and national security and it has to be dealt with in a serious way.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/14/obamas-global-warming-cha_n_150947.html
March 24, 2006 London ‘under water by 2100’ as Antarctica crumbles into the sea http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article694819.ece
February 20th, 1969
NYT: Expert Says Arctic Ocean Will Soon Be an Open Sea http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/07/24/nyt-expert-says-arctic-ocean-will-soon-be-an-open-sea/
Arctic Ice Cap to Become an Open Sea in 10 years Oct 14, 2009 http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/280517
What are some of the reader’s favorites?
h/t to Steve Goddard
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2261941/British-UFO-sightings-at-bizarre-levels.html
“…”Some experts believe it could be linked to global warming and craft from outer space are appearing because they are concerned about what man is doing to this planet.” …”
I think you get the picture. 🙂
None of these predictions are worth a bucket of warm spit! To predict the events takes a lot more understanding of the physics of the natural cycles than we now posess. An one big volcanic event will cause a major problem combined with the current solar minimum.
Of any, my fav was Hathaway’s prediction of the “most intense cycles since record keeping began” I LOL’ed every time he issued a revised prediction for the cycle.
You posted my favorite – “March 24, 2006 London ‘under water by 2100′ as Antarctica crumbles into the sea”.
I think it’s important to note that in order to have what it takes to be a “science expert” you need to have a degree in journalism.
Here’s my contribution from the Met Office of course:
The forecast for 2014…
Climate scientists at the Met Office Hadley Centre will unveil the first decadal climate prediction model in a paper published on 10 August 2007 in the journal Science. The paper includes the Met Office’s prediction for annual global temperature to 2014.
Over the 10-year period as a whole, climate continues to warm and 2014 is likely to be 0.3 °C warmer than 2004. At least half of the years after 2009 are predicted to exceed the warmest year currently on record.
Just The Facts (09:51:57) :
NASA definitely deserves an award for their impressively sensational and amazingly inaccurate press releases on solar activity […]
I still can’t believe that I’m paying for this crap. NASA, I want a refund…
Me too. But almost any PR has scientists shocked, puzzled, stumped, stumbling, etc, otherwise there would be no reason for the PR, would there?. How about this PR: “NASA announces that no new shocking discovery has been made today”.
Not sure if this fits the theme of this thread but one my favourite Global Warming expert ‘scientific’ predictions is this:-
Global Warming May Up Kidney Stone Risk: Study
Climate Change Could Bump Kidney Stone Rates up by One-Third
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5374174&page=1
(Feel free to delete this if it is deemed to be off topic)
That just means you are the last to find out. 🙂
(conclusion, “Science, Politics and Global Warming” holoscience.com)
Got this out of the “Tips and Notes” page, magnificent exaggeration together with complete ignorance of our ability to increase the number of blood platelets if necessary.
“Ray (13:01:47) :
This is an article that appeared in the Guardian 2 years ago. Looks like they started to seed the next big anthropogenic scare by claiming we are responsible for the drop in oxygen in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel utilization.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/13/carbonemissions.clim
“
I would like to see every so-called ‘expert’ take this simple test, and have their scores published: click
OT:
Not sure if anyone saw this article, it’s off the beaten path of the normal subjects covered here. However, when I read this article, I could not help but think about how closely what this article describes is what happens when one member of a couple undergoes a religious change/awakening.
If you wanted an article that was exhibit A as to the Green movement being a religion, look no further:
http://www.mnn.com/family/education-activities/stories/going-green-tearing-your-family-apart
Don’t forget that you should also have some expertise with PhotoShop to qualify as a science expert, or at least have access to a stock photo library for flood and storm pictures to dress up your peer-reviewable material. ;->
How will the so called ‘science’ regarding AGW handle this?
Jet Stream moving along at record speed (in other words screaming fast)
http://www.iceagenow.com/Jet_Stream_heading_to_CA_at_record_speed_of_250_mph.htm
It’s basically slamming storm after storm into California. O.o\
Nice photoshop of London underwater, not like it’s going to happen anyway.
Here you can find the tprical hyperbole that I talked about above. But luckily when man is faced with things like this the average person has a God endowed bull Sh*t meter and revolts and searches for truth. http://www.climate-catastrophe.org/ “The Earth stands in immenent Peril……..and nothing short a plantery rescuewill save it from the enviromental cataclysm of Dangerous climate change”……… James Hanson. There are many more at this site and almost everywhere Climate Scientists and Alarmist gather…….Very sad indeed “The sky is falling”……..Chicken Little. We all know how that worked out……..Sincerely, John….
That’s New Orleans with British subtitles? Right! Where’s #10?
I thought they’d sold all those old buildings to Disney and moved them to Orlando and Epcot. (Haven’t seen The City during the Spring in years. No change at all.)
The ghost of Big Jim Cooley sez: (09:48:49)
Here in the UK we spent a fortune on Swine Flu – including setting up a bank of telephone operators working 24 hours to give advice, and also millions of pounds on ‘anti-flu’ pills – all now largely redundant just a few weeks on! It’s just one scare story after another, and all bogus.
I’m not sure this is comparable. We had a nice little flu pandemic in 1918. It killed 20 million people. I don’t consider health authorities alarmist for being cautious with the flu.
“Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past Monday, 20 March 2000 According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”. ”Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said.”
My three grandsons stayed with me in Rochdale UK for Christmas and they absolutely loved the snow, which lasted from well before Christmas until well into the new year. It was the first time they had been able to enjoy the snow and possibly the last time for many more years, so perhaps Dr Viner had great insite back in 2000.
Alas, it was then a great disappointment to see my grandsons fly off back to Sydney, Australia with only the memory now of a slowly melting snowman that they left me with.
Colin Porter
A group of Danish scientists wondered whether global warming would make the hairy, meat-eating wolf spiders of northeastern Greenland bigger, since longer summers mean more hunting time.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090505-spiders-bigger-global-warming.html
The one I like best is from Prince Charles:
“Last month, in Brazil, I warned that the scientific evidence showed we had less than one hundred months before we were at our own Rubicon and there was no going back. We now only have ninety-nine months – actually very nearly ninety-eight, before we reach the point of no return, with decisions that will lock us in to our future course. The clock is ticking away inexorably; 99 months will pass in a flash, believe you me. ”
I’ve compiled Prince Charle’s best ones at http://ecotretas.blogspot.com/2009/11/fim-do-mundo.html
Ecotretas
I think Willie Nelson would disagree: “Mamma, don’t let your babies grow up to be climate scientists”
More, more! We have to know what’s in store for us. And some of the predictions must have occured already. It’s terrible!
What does it take to be a science expert?
Start with a stooge in the form of a mainstream media reporter and then feed them a line they want to hear. Don’t worry about exaggeration or hyperbole as they won’t check the facts. Just feed them quotes and claim your statements are indisputable.
This article from Time magazine (1974) would go well with the newsweek article on global cooling.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944914,00.html
This one is priceless:- “”” From The Sunday Times January 10, 2010
“This will be the warmest winter in living memory, the data has already been recorded. For your information, we take the highest 15 readings between November and March and then produce an average. As November was a very seasonally warm month, then all the data will come from those readings.” “””
Now how’s about that for the entirely newly discovered mathematical process of averaging; a very simple algorithm.
1/ assign memory locations: 0 through F
2/ record first F observations in 0 through E
3/ replace smallest number in 0 through E with next data value that exceeeds it
4/ after last data point is processed, sum the numbers in 0 through E
5/ divide sum by F
6/ store result in F, for “snaferage”
NEWS FLASH: !! The Hubble Space Telescope team has just announced that the upper limit of earth’s outer atmosphere has now been observed at an altitude of approximately 17 Billion (with a (B) light years. Several candidate names for these extremities of earth’s multilayered atmosphere have been proposed. Dimosphere seems to be most popular. Some have suggested that Dumosphere, being closer to the end of the alphabet, might be more informative as scientists close in on that ethereal end to earth’s atmosphere; the absolute zero of any outer atmospheric layer.
This is George E. Smith; popular Non Nobel Physics Prize Nonwinner reporting the Science Daily News for Jan 19 2010; with less than three years remaining till the end of time.
John from MN (10:20:15) :
i am what you might consider an “Average Joe”. No degree, no diploma, just an interest in science. How and why things work fascinates me. And nothing bothers me more than being lied to. The hyperbole you refer to is what I affectionately call BS. I have an incredibly effective BS meter built into me and it works like this. Any time something is saturating the mainstream media my BS meter starts to register. It doesn’t matter what it is, the ozone, bird flu, global warming, swine flu, my meter picks it up. My BS meter has been pegged WFO about global warming for a long time. Anytime someone won’t debate (eg. Gore) is a dead give-away that something is wrong. These guys pushing this crap are on the level of the pitch guys on the infommercials and you know how good most of that stuff is. They must be taking lessons from Billy Mays and Vince.
Tor Hansson,
“I’m not sure this is comparable. We had a nice little flu pandemic in 1918. It killed 20 million people. I don’t consider health authorities alarmist for being cautious with the flu.”
I think the point being made is about the reaction of people, especially governments to perceived threats. In 1918, the population confronted a deadly onslaught with bravery and heroism. They stared at death, faced it down and moved on. Today, people act like abject cowards, fear further fanned by sensationalist media, while governments jump into predictable knee jerk responses. It’s the same sort of nonsense we see with the whole AGW scare – half baked ideas that haven’t a snowflakes chance of working.