From NBC29:
Protestors, angry with the way Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has tried to make his case, rallied on grounds at the University of Virginia Friday afternoon.
Only one small problem…..
Turnout was smaller than expected, as just a few people showed up. Organizers put the rally together to express the viewpoint of some students and faculty. They say the actions of Cuccinelli could have severe ramifications on the academic world.
=============
The protest organizer, shown below, doesn’t inspire confidence, especially when you listen to what he has to say. Where’s Bill McKibben when you need him?
Full story here
Could have ramifications? Well thats the whole point.
Researchers that are trying to influence public policy are most certainly responsible for their if flaws are found in their work. That goes true for everybody. Nobody gets a free ride even if they are capable of saving the planet.
More media than protesters. Nice touch!
Bwa ha ha ha ha!
The saddest thing is that the news actually gave them airtime.
Maybe that was a good thing though…
Thanks, Channel 29 [and Anthony]…for letting the viewer decide. 😉
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
Yep – the kid totally misses the point. It’s not what Mann was researching, it’s how he handled the funding.
Many think that Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is going too far. McIntyre says it’s too far, Motl says it’s not too far at all. Here’s an interesting article, dated Sunday, August 1, 2010, in its text, about Cuccinelli and his rise. It’s in the Washington Post yet it’s not a hit piece. It appears that Cuccinelli has been idealistic in ways that have earned respect, grudging and otherwise. At one point the article alludes to Michael Mann without naming him, so the article doesn’t turn up in searches on Michael Mann.
Shouldn’t a professional writer know the difference between “affects” and “effects”?
Oh, right. It wasn’t a professional writer. It was a reporter.
Not to mention the repeated use of “also” in that sentence. (Which I didn’t in my previous comment, and am doing so now.
They say the actions of Cuccinelli could have severe ramifications on the academic world.
Let’s hope so.
“They say the actions of Cuccinelli could have severe ramifications on the academic world.”
I certainly hope so.
Wait… Amino Acids in Meteorites, you and I must have parallel minds 🙂
I better scan the comments before starting to type.
Just couldn’t wait, that line just stuck out like a sore thumb and said.. respond.
Five protesters support Mann, is that like a consensus?
R. Shearer says:
August 20, 2010 at 8:44 pm
five is all that are left of his original students?
This whole thing, considered from all sides, appears to be “much to do about nothing.” The protest is a bust and misdirected. The investigation’s publicity seems ill advised unless some real evidence turns up.
What if they threw a protest and nobody came? It looks like the members of “the media” outnumbered the protestors by a factor of two.
Hmmm … is this our dose of Friday funnies?
wayne says:
August 20, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Wait… Amino Acids in Meteorites, you and I must have parallel minds 🙂
I better scan the comments before starting to type.
Just couldn’t wait, that line just stuck out like a sore thumb and said.. respond.
It happens. I did it just yesterday in that Valley post.
wayne says:
August 20, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I better scan the comments before starting to type.
But if that’s what you wanted to comment why change it?
Five lousy stinking protesters? How is Mike going to hide this decline?
R. Shearer says:
August 20, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Five protesters support Mann, is that like a consensus?
I don’t know about that part. But the leader could use some lessons on less eerie aesthetics.
Aggh its the same old left strategy of cry victim when you are the perpetrators. When is Mann going to be held accountable for his actions and the billions wasted because of his science fiction?
Yawn, even Blago has a bigger following than that.
A bust at the box office steps.
Mike will no doubt create a hockey stick graph that shows there were 100,000 protesters instead of what looked like about 13.
On camera Ryan McElveen (organiser of the protest )said: “Right now professors have a freedom to research whatever they want” …… No s***t. What a monkey doodoo.
How about this genius. Get a grant to research this ( I want to know ),:
Effect of AGW and aurora borealis on sex life of Adelie penguins in Western Sahara desert.
Very good camerawork there, obviously the camera crew and producer has been well schooled in what sells.
The bald headed kid states pretty much what I would expect a bald headed college kid to state, generalities without the ability to tie them to the specifics of the situation.
I expect his Che T-shirt was in the laundry.
No big deal. Just surprised me being a near match. For a second I thought I has somehow posted it twice!
Just read the article on Cuccinelli at the link given by Ben U. above. Seems Virginia has got one true American in that office unafraid to take a stand! Now, where to find more like him.
Athlete says:
August 20, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Five lousy stinking protesters? How is Mike going to hide this decline?
—-
He’ll use his Nature trick, obviously!
I’m sure glad I don’t have that creepy kid in one of my classes….I rather doubt that we would see eye-to-eye on a few things.
Scott Ramsdell says:
August 20, 2010 at 9:26 pm
The bald headed kid states pretty much what I would expect a bald headed college kid to state, generalities without the ability to tie them to the specifics of the situation.
=========================================
Now hold on there brother.
What are you associating bald-headedness, with such negatives, now?
I certainly agree he makes no case [and is rather pathetic].
But don’t jump on all bald-headed-brothers now, son, or you will face some whoop ass!
😉
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
There sure are a lot of white people in that video! I’m one too, but couldn’t help noticing.
Anyhow, sure that I will get a “[snip]” and a bad dog for that first comment, well deserved may I add, I wonder why anyone should care? I mean, we can’t end the AGW threat because of the pipeline, we can’t adapt because that will just make it worse, we can’t do nothing because that will just make it worse, so why even bother protesting? We should really, given all of the possible endings laid out, do what many people say they would do given six months to live and start living the high life, right? Wouldn’t that be the logical choice?
Typical of all you deniers; not to show the rest of the protestors.
http://tinyurl.com/28agzgx
Perhaps the kid is suffering from a serious medical condition (it certainly looks that way), so one shouldn’t ridicule his appearance (and his clothes are perfectly respectable).
Ridiculing the bored onlookers, on the other hand . . . .
Athlete’s “How is Mike going to hide this decline” question is hilarious.
Nice one D.King.. 😉 Yeh.. they left out about 10%..?
Anton says:
August 20, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Perhaps the kid is suffering from a serious medical condition (it certainly looks that way),
=======================
I was thinking the same thing… [bald guy, myself] regardless…and this is the crux of the matter:
Medical condition or not: his argument is WEAK.
Somebody can have terminal cancer and be on their death bed….and still have a stellar argument.
Or somebody like the once statuesque Arnold Schwarzanegger can stand up, with all of his oomph, and declare a year or two ago that all of the catastrophic fire in Cali were because of “global warming.”
No they weren’t Arnolt.
They were because of sinking air over the Pacific because of the the cool PDO.
Doesn’t matter if the deliverer is sick or healthy: A weak argument is a weak argument.
The converse is also true.
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
Maybe the other protesters are ‘in the pipeline’
or
they just didn’t turn up and ‘it’s a travesty’ that we don’t know where they are.
Ryan McElveen has only organized the compassionate meeting because he has the same haircut as Mike Mann. 😉
“D. King says:
August 20, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Typical of all you deniers; not to show the rest of the protestors.
http://tinyurl.com/28agzgx
”
Sorry we missed the pets they brought. The chihuahua was the best thinker of the bunch too, you know what they say, “the cameras always find the dumbest person for any protest to interview.”
And not sure what is insulting about calling me a denier. I deny bad science? so what……
Is it true that the UVA passed over Pat Michael’s emails to Greenpeace without a peep?
If they did it’s interesting that we’ve heard nothing from them (greenpeace) about them.
“Perhaps the kid is suffering from a serious medical condition (it certainly looks that way),”
The UFO kid has suffered extra radiation exposure the sun, trapped by Global Warming.
Too bad the media did not interview the other zombies, I’m sure they had dumber/hilarious things to say.
Luboš Motl says:
August 20, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Ryan McElveen has only organized the compassionate meeting because he has the same haircut as Mike Mann. 😉
=======================
Luboš you are an extremely smart man on things meteorological and climatological.
But the age old legend [goes back to biblical times] about male pattern baldness, is really not true.
It is due to too much testosterone, not to little. 😉
Michael Mann is just a narcissist so MPB really can not account here as it happens to alot of guys.
This guy….has all his eyebrows missing and any other semblance of facial hair.
But all of that is a red herring, because it is not the person here, but the argument.
I suppose one could argue the reverse of Ken Cuccinelli, “stud” father of about 5 children, good-looking Italian Stallion.
Don’t fall into that trap.
Ken, even though his appearance is “better”, also has a stronger argument.
This makes the “weak” even appear weaker, if that is possible.
Says something about marketing, and about the “face” of science.
[Oh crap….the bald head of James Hansen comes to mind lol]
But the juxtaposition of the two mean absolutely nothing.
Moving on. This kid’s argument is weak.
Sure it would “seem” stronger if he looked like Tim Tebow.
But inquiring minds would venture beyond the surface.
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
Are you possibly talking about “hidden protesters”?
And all of this exposition….coming from a bald guy.
Did you expect anything less? LOL
Wind Rider says:
August 20, 2010 at 7:51 pm
“More media than protesters. Nice touch!”
You’re missing the point; the number of protesters is irrelevant. Here’s what really keeps me awake at night: Which proxy variable will Mann use for the number of protesters? Sorry Michael, but wind shear has already been taken for the equatorial mid tropospheric snipe hunt–I mean hot spot quest. I’d recommend the chicken entrails instead. 🙂
“Organizer Ryan McElveen said, “Right now, professors have the freedom to research whatever they want. And if the attorney general is able to control what professors are allowed to research or what comes out of their research, then professors will not be willing to come to this state.”
Uhmm, wow, and he’s in academia. When I read stuff like this, I always wonder if the person making such outrageous statements really believe what they’re blathering or are they attempting to others believe the blathering? I never really know……
In the US, it appears as though the rent-a-mob loony/loser brigades are far less well-organised than here in the UK.
If this rally had been held in the UK, there would have been at least a dozen people attending.
Pick your German demonstrant here; with prizes in Euro.
http://www.erento.com/mieten/agenturen,_personal_dienstleistungen/personal/demonstrant/
Blather is blather and never for better
Whether balder or hairy, it’s simply contrary,
Nonsense makes no sense and THAT has no defense,
If he wore a hat, he’d still be an offense…
College profs have always been able to research whatever they want; I taught in college for over a third of a century, and no one ever told me what I could or could not research. The issue is paying for the research with other people’s money, which is what Cuccinelli is investigating.
Oh come on, he clearly doesn’t have a medical condition, he is simply preparing to survive global warming (post tipping point) by removing all of his hair.
I see people like Ryan and feel some-what sad. They are a product of what we have allowed to happen. Places of learning have been over run by those who can not think original thoughts, the teachers thus create clones. The attorney general can only nibble at the outside of a profoundly corrupted system, it will take a populist revolution in the education systems of all western countries to purge us of the elitist pigs with their snouts in the trough. The Ryans of the world will only ever disrupt and never create, sad sad sad.
Must. Resist. Making. Hitler. Youth. Comparison. With. Skinhead. Youth. Activist.
2+2=5
“The bald headed kid” is likely not a cancer patient. It looks like he is suffering from alopecia totalis. It is a condition when your immune system starts attacking your hair follicles like they were foreign invaders. It has stages like ‘areata’ when it is only patches of hair loss, or universalis, when everything everywhere goes.
Hansen has it right though, he goes to demonstrations organised by other groups.
Speaking of research integrity, here is a wonerful example of what can go wrong when the raw data is around for people to check: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/education/21harvard.html?_r=1
N. B. Since this is in the NYT I am not 100% confident of its accuracy.
Frank Lee Meidere says:
August 20, 2010 at 8:11 pm
McElveen also said that siding with Cuccinelli also has serious affects on the nationwide debate on climate change.
Shouldn’t a professional writer know the difference between “affects” and “effects”?
Oh, right. It wasn’t a professional writer. It was a reporter.
Looks like NBC are watching this thread – they’ve corrected the affects/effects error!
http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=13019499
But yeah, the tiny turnout of this pathetic little “protest” from a bunch of ignoramuses just shows how little support there is for Mann. The only ones defending Mann are the ones who actually still don’t realise or understand just how anti-scientific his behaviour is. They don’t see a problem with – or are blissfully ignorant of – the act of cherrypicking proxies to make the MWP and LIA disappear whilst “hiding the decline” in the recent proxy record. They don’t see a problem with – or are blissfully ignorant of – the act of refusing to make raw data and code available to sceptics for good, honest testing (which would have shown what complete fraudsters the Hockey Team have been from the beginning). I would call these protesters “useful idiots” – but, fortunately, this little bunch aren’t even useful.
D. King says:
August 20, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Typical of all you deniers; not to show the rest of the protestors
Thanks for my first good laugh of the day.
Behind every radical student is a teacher or professor with a bone to pick with somebody. Sometimes the kid even gets “Extra Credit”.
Methinks they doth protest too ……. well maybe not.
I hope VA AG wins (who knows?)!
Iggy Slanter says:
August 21, 2010 at 3:56 am
I had Alopecia areata for a few years through high school in the 1960s. At the time it wasn’t regarded as an auto-immune disease. I haven’t bothered to read up on things like Alopecia universalis in decades, but I though it was a more aggres form of male pattern baldness. I’d say “on steroids,” but part of my treatment was cortisone injections in my scalp.
To the best of my knowledge, alopecia has no impact on mental functioning, so attempts to link that here are just ad hominem attacks, If I wanted those, there are better places to go. When I got to CMU, the head of the young computer science department was Alan Perlis, http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/misc/mosaic/common/omega/Web/csd/perlis.html and he had Alopecia universalis. I never heard people link that to his intellect.
In my freshman programming class, his lectures were more on the philosophy of computer science and where it was going. He wrote the final exam (average score 13), and left for vacation, “neglecting” to leave the answer key with the grad student TAs who had to grade it. Fortunately for most, the test wasn’t a major part of the final grade.
Pushing a lie uphill is really hard …
savethesharks says:
August 20, 2010 at 9:42 pm
But don’t jump on all bald-headed-brothers now, son, or you will face some whoop ass!
😉
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
==========================================================
At 41, I’m going there myself, my friend!
I was simply commenting on the possibility that he is perhaps trying to draw attention to himself, “to be unique” just like everyone else. If it is a medical condition like someone suggested, then I am a jerk for my comment.
Chris – I’m 99% certain Lubos statement wasn’t a reference to testerone lev els.
It was just a joke.
Bet these types are majoring in philosophy, international relations, or some-such really profound subject matter. Bet they welch on their student loans too.
Why didn’t they fund the big protester Hansen?
Looks to me like the kid will need to sharpen his arguments if he wants to take upper level classes.
It may help if he reads the statement from Cucinelli.
Just white elitists care about the planet? Is it white guilt?
Bernie says:
August 21, 2010 at 4:28 am
Speaking of research integrity, here is a wonerful example of what can go wrong when the raw data is around for people to check: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/education/21harvard.html?_r=1
N. B. Since this is in the NYT I am not 100% confident of its accuracy.
___________________________________________________________
If Dr. Marc Hauser had to go through all that, because he made some mistakes in his scintific reports, then what should be the penalty for all the climategate/glaciergate/and-all-those-other-gates concocted by Jones/CRU/ICCP/Mann/Pachauri and all?
I am sure that if Dr. Hauser’s mistakes were in climatology, he would have survived it all, having been defended by the left-wing media and scientists, but being in another branch of science………and apolitical….mmmmmmmmm
Bernie says:
August 21, 2010 at 4:28 am
What? How can a university conduct a proper investigation without taking into account the “‘level of success in proposing research and obtaining funding”? Isn’t that a primary “measure” of integrity?
Oh, maybe Harvard has different standards than other universities that value other contributions to society.
http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/joe-pa-with-team.jpg
—
At 4:28 AM on 21 August, Bernie had written:
“Speaking of research integrity, here is a wonderful example of what can go wrong when the raw data is around for people to check: http://tinyurl.com/3yo7f6e”
Hm. Perhaps Penn State University (present home of Dr. Mann) might persuade the same people at Harvard to do a back-up to their own investigation of the “Hockey Schtick” perpetrator.
Might be nice to engage the attentions of folks with a recent track record of proven willingness to expose professional misconduct in a member of the ivy-covered professoriate.
—
First. Thing. That. Hit. My. Mind. Too.
Then. Parallel. Thoughts. Like. Others. Re:. Unfortunate. Medical. Condition.
.
—
At 4:33 AM on 21 August, David UK had written:
“Looks like NBC are watching this thread – they’ve corrected the affects/effects error!”
Whether they’re watching WattsUpWithThat.com or not (lord, since Climategate, who on the planet isn’t browsing in here at least once a day?) , the fact that they’re willing to correct proofing errors on their Web site is praiseworthy.
Note the comments on that local NBC station’s Web page. Almost all have thus far been aimed at burying the proverbial hatchet – in the back of Dr. Mann’s neck.
They also offer browsers the opportunity to “Judge” each commentator’s contribution, and those who have been defending Dr. Mann and slagging Mr. Cuccinelli have been assessed as “Clueless” and “Nuts.”
Given the increasing importance of the ‘Net when compared against the legacy media – including broadcast “Big Three” network television in these United States – the preponderance of Internet scorn for the AGW alarmists since last November’s revelations (coupled with political outrage hammering at the doors of our Permanently Incumbent Institutional Party malfeasants-in-office), I tend to take such manifests of public opinion as a strong indicator that the “global warming” noisemakers have been figuratively castrated.
Methinks their voice – such as it is – has now raised squeakily into the range where only “Liberals” and other fascists can hear it.
—
Isn’t the issue whether proper research was done while being paid to perform research?
Iggy Slanter: August 21, 2010 at 3:56 am
“The bald headed kid” is likely not a cancer patient. It looks like he is suffering from alopecia totalis. It is a condition when your immune system starts attacking your hair follicles like they were foreign invaders.
Childhood rheumatic fever will do that, too. I had a friend who was McElveen’s spit ‘n’ image from the time he was a year old until he hit age 40.
He rags me by saying he’s “prematurely redheaded”…
2 years ago we all observed the explosion named the mortgage bubble. Part of the bubble came from mortgage application fraud. People went for loans and provided false financial info. Loans were approved based on false information
Applying for grants is the same. The AG is asking for records. Did Mann use the money for which it was requested? Did he do the work his grants paid him to do. Did he keep honest records of his work?
Mortage audits will not end the purchase of homes in America
Examination of financial records of spending of grant money will NOT end research, academia etc in America. If Mann did some heavy duty googling and armchair work for 30 hours on one set of tree rings, where did the other millions go?
The CEI sued NASA GISS. It seems Gavin Schmidt is blogging his heart out on Realclimate work instead of being on task down the hall at his paying job. He claimed he was too busy to furnish info under FOIA requests.
After making adjustments to the data, at least eight or nine protesters were actually present. If nothing is done, up to 15 protesters could show up next year, and soon we could reach a tipping point where 50 or 60 protesters rally in support of Mann. Drastic action must be taken now to prevent this.
I think it is very mean for you all to be commenting on the protester’s appearance. He has been tearing his hair out for ages trying to think of ways to defend the indefensible.
—
At 5:59 AM on 21 August, Ric Werme had written:
“To the best of my knowledge, alopecia has no impact on mental functioning, so attempts to link that here are just ad hominem attacks.”
Entirely true. On the anecdotal side, one of my favorite otorhinolaryngology specialists (an ENT guy) has long suffered from alopecia totalis. He brings to the operating room – and, more importantly in my mind, to the Emergency Department – some of the sharpest diagnostic and therapeutic abilities I have ever had the pleasure to encounter, and a helluva pair of hands.
—
Ya know? It just occurred to me that the whole gathering was really an Onion kinda spoof.
What better way to lampoon Mann than to pretend to support him, and use a questionable organizer too boot?
Raising rhetoric and sarcasm to a high art …
Dr. Ray Stantz(Dan Aykroyd) says: “Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn’t have to produce anything! You’ve never been out of college! You don’t know what it’s like out there! I’ve WORKED in the private sector. They expect RESULTS.” … from “Ghostbusters!”…Truth funnier than fiction!
I REALLY liked the music video of Mann’s Hide the Decline. Oh, well . . .
When the “research” results are false, misleading, and possibly dishonest, that scientist is no longer doing real research and has broken the contract that he will spend his time and grant funds on real work, not political propaganda. In which case it is time indict and convict the “researcher” and retrieve the public funds.
Pascvaks,
. . . . and behind every professor with a bone to pick . . . is . . . . a bone supplier.
The bone supplier business is one of the real high growth areas in our economy. Are their main customers in academia and at the bureaucracies which dispense government grants for research?
Shall we go down the “bone supplier” rabbit hole. I am shuddering at the thought.
John
Henry chance says:
“2 years ago we all observed the explosion named the mortgage bubble. Part of the bubble came from mortgage application fraud. People went for loans and provided false financial info. Loans were approved based on false information.”
Actually it went on from about 2000 through 2007, and both parties were into it up their eyeballs. I suspect Hank Paulson’s bailouts were largely to cover the real estate/banking-related investments of senators, congressmen, their staffs, and, of course, Mr. Paulson himself, and the Bush family too. Obama, who got a rigged loan from Countrywide, blames Bush, and Republicans blame Obama, but they were all complicit. And millions of people who got liar teaser loans in hopes of flipping properties or perpetually refinancing them for cash were equally guilty.
Now that the real estate bubble has exploded, it is being replaced with the carbon trading flim-flam, with many of the very same players, including Paulson, Obama, Goldman Sachs, Geithner, and the usual Wall Street criminals. I think the potential profits are too huge for any of them to back down just because skeptics have the better science on their side. How many financiers, investors, and politicians are capable of taking the high road, when the low one is paved in trillions for absolutely nothing in return?
D. King: Please don’t use the word “denier”; it is worse than using the “N” word to describe a black man; worse than calling someone a Nazi.
Thanks!
Just staged a protest down here in Oz and the first term Labor Govt (like Dimmocrats) is now facing a hung parliament. You’ll recall Labor was led by none other than Kevin07, a ‘Friend of the Chair’ at Copenhagen and a promoter of Oz’s very own Carbon Profiteering Rorts Scheme. With friends like that who needs enemies and with his Obama like approval rating (Mr 75% originally) plummetting, he was sacked by the faceless union men back in June and replaced by Deputy PM Julia Gillard. In an unprecedented fall from grace this L-Plate Govt has lost power after one term(only repeated once before in the 1930s) Although not absolutely certain until final counting, the conservatives are most likely back in power with the help of independant members. We’re partying on .
[snip just a bit OTT]
An AGW-related (distant relation; 3rd cousin) protest and no snow and ice? I’m shocked! Shocked! What were they thinking?!?
Don’t ya’ll worry none about the number of protesters. There were 45,000 protesters at another rally just under 1200 kilometers away, so when the gridded data comes out, we’ll find that there were actually 13,500 at this protest.
The kid says profs are free to research anything they want…. well, that’s true in a theoretical and trivial way, but the whole tenure system insures that nobody with heterodox leanings gets into a “reputable” position. Thus the “reputable” people are in fact researching anything they want, but the only things they want to research are within the bounds of orthodoxy (and the bounds of grant availability) in their discipline.
This may be why the only academics who can see the truth about climate are geologists, physicists and engineers. They were also selected for orthodoxy, but they were not selected for climate orthodoxy, thus their vision in this field is clearer.
CRS, Dr.P.H says
Athlete says:
August 20, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Five lousy stinking protesters? How is Mike going to hide this decline?
—-
He’ll use his Nature trick, obviously!
I don’t think Mike’s Nature trick can hide a decline so severe. I think he’ll probably have to stoop to using upside down Tiljander.
Plus? No dandruff.
After years of exposure to science fiction like The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and forward to the modern stuff like Alien Nation…
I try to picture an “alien invader” trying to subvert human civilization and transform it into something easier to dominate by “working from within” while posing as a human, with just enough makeup to pass as needed, then I look at that “protest organizer” and think…
Yup, just what we need around here, another conspiracy theory.
🙂
I am tempted to give these kids a pass. It is often hit-and-miss when you try to organize an impromptu rally, no matter the cause. The risk is that few if any one other than the organizers bother to show up.
Form is never fully transparent to content. Form matters. For example other websites offer wonderful content that is comparable to WUWT. However WUWT has a far bigger audience. WUWT is such a success because it is a great website – period. Anthony Watts and team are, first and foremost, masters of form.
What does this have to do with this post? Well, the content here is the naive (and possibly afflicted) young protester talking gibberish.
The form is photography. It is not only a person, it is an image. It is an image of a pale, bald, emaciated looking man. This image activates projections of shadowy subconscious content. Pick your example of the psychologically enslaved pale, bald, emaciated man:
Colonel Kurtz, Gollum, or how about the enslaved Keanu Reeves character in the Matrix…
http://filmbender.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/06/movie_the_matrix_keanu_reeves_pod.jpg
Speaking ill of a person because of their appearance is, quite properly, taboo. Of course the taboo protects and conceals the dark poles of reality.
Anyway, I go to far. But I wonder if, respectfully, the prominance in this post of the image of young Mister McElveen also goes too far….
Chris in Norfolk, be careful about commenting on Tim Tebow’s haircut. Paste in:
backporch.fanhouse.com/2010/08/07/tim-tebow-victim-of-rookie-hazing-gets-fantastic-haircut/
Whether smooth or hirsute,
His argument gets the boot.
Seems to me the story isn’t the hapless kid, its that the court said it would issue a written ruling within 10 days. That’s tres cool!
“Colonel Kurtz” was not exactly what you should call emaciated.
As for the bald kid, i guess he is from Remulak, a small town in France.
RockyRoad says:
August 21, 2010 at 8:24 am
D. King: Please don’t use the word “denier”; it is worse than using the “N” word to describe a black man; worse than calling someone a Nazi.
Thanks!
Sorry! Understood.
Did not mean to offend.
Robert says:
August 21, 2010 at 11:19 am
“Colonel Kurtz” was not exactly what you should call emaciated.
In the book man, in the book….
That would be the one called Heart of Darkness by a little known author named Joseph Conrad ….. 🙂
So I guess that academic freedom includes allowing professors to engage in what clearly seems to be fraudulent activities fabricating data by bending the facts hiding the decline and distorting entire periods to fit their pet hypothesis… usually it would be fine if the academics policed their own however when the public purse is adversely and significantly impacted by said professors allegedly and apparent fraudulent works it’s clearly time to take appropriate fraud control actions from outside the university against said professor(s).
@ dkkraft
I know, but when asked to form an image i could be not be helped but thinking of Marlon Brando.
I just viewed a Harry Potter movie. Anyone notice the leader’s resemblance to Voldemort?
Merrick says:
August 21, 2010 at 6:21 am
Chris – I’m 99% certain Lubos statement wasn’t a reference to testerone lev els.
It was just a joke.
=======================
I fully well knew that. I was just playing along a bit.
Chris
Can’t type. Glued to desk.
I don’t think making comment on the guys lack of hair and appearance is doing this site any favours at all,would expect more from WUWT moderators
on topic
I wonder if the media would turn out in same number if an anti Mann protest were
staged,do wish some one some where would stage one
D. King says:
August 21, 2010 at 11:32 am
There was no need to apologise mate. I think the humour of your original post had been missed, actually went stratospheric in the case of the complainant.
DaveE.
Dave please don’t be so intolerant of humor. In this present recession/depression and climate of political insanity, humor just might be something we all need.
Enter … the Coneheads of SNL (Saturday Night Live) fame:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD-vAWecEus
Origin of the Coneheads, Innsbruck Austria, 1975 (“The Luge Men” presented by Jackie Stuart):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMwGut744kk
.
David A. Evans says:
August 21, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Thanks Dave. I am sensitive to the point though,
and wanted him to know that.
Best,
Dave King
The largest protest in 1000 years, apparently.
Billions?
What amazes me about these types of events is that if you change around the players and events of the narrative just slightly these same protesters would be demanding exactly the opposite of what they are so vehemently defending.
If they were being honest with themselves and were presented with the following story instead would they react the same?
Attorney General Eric Holder filed a suit in Louisiana today asking for BP records to be released concerning the siteplan for the Deepwater Horizon well. BP has been withholding data about the well siting and safety plans. The plans were drawn up by Manley Michael who had received several million in federal grants to research the location and safety procedures. BP is refusing to release any of the data the plans were based on claiming that if the information were released for others to examine they would be disadvantaged because their competitors would learn their trade secrets. Two groups of protesters met on the courthouse steps. BP’s defenders said that BP has the right to research whatever they want, and if government steps in demanding accountability then you might as well forget having fusion power anytime soon. You can’t solve an energy crisis without breaking a few eggs. Opposite the BP defenders were several young college students who shouted chants demanding BP release the data and that the evil oil companies can’t hide behind their massive piles of cash anymore. They demanded that everything be “open-source” and in the public domain so we can punish the person responsible for the shoddy research.
So maybe that isn’t exactly what happened, but how is the situation that different? Government funds were used to research something that may have been fabricated or at the very least sorely lacking in the competency department. They should have the right to hold the person accountable for the quality of their work regardless of whether they work for or against an oil company.
Now if these protesters won’t admit which side of the fight they would be on if rather than an educational institution the AG was going after an oil company for exactly the same reasons then they are hypocrites and should be branded as such.
In my opinion demanding accountability for some of these outrageous grants that professors across the country receive to “research” the mating habits of red breasted tree frogs while intoxicated with cocaine (the frogs, not the professors … well maybe both) could only be a positive step for academia at this point.
JM
Evidently someone didn’t have enough money to hire Acorn or SEIU.
And that’s right. Exactly.
But — this would call for the protesters to ascribe human and well-meaning motives to the opposing side, and once you’ve started calling someone a “denier,” that ship’s not only left port, it capsized while rounding the Horn. Our public support for one particular viewpoint in science, like our public support for one particular viewpoint in anything else, is based almost entirely on the same underlying logic as our public support for one particular sports team, no matter how many games they lose or how incompetent their playing is.
tarpon says:
August 21, 2010 at 6:07 am
Pushing a lie uphill is really hard …
Looks like a harsh winter is coming to the Northern Hemisphere. Steeper hill.
Oh dear. What an embarassing demonstration of support.
You know actually I think… somebody should check this because I might be wrong … but I think Ryan Mc Elveen was the promoter of the protest last March at the Capital. You remember the one that got snowed out?
That one.
Excellent post! Well, they have less people than realclimate.org…
Frankly I am disappointed in the UVA leftists. Anybody who is anybody in politics knows you can get all the protesters you need by sending a bus around to the local homeless shelters and undocumented worker pickup points.
If Mann couldn’t even get any of his old students to come out to stick up for him he really must be dirt on campus.
As for Dave’s complaints about comments on McElveen’s follically challenged state:
Hey, I knew there were aliens on campus these days, but I thought they were all from this planet!
Ah, he must be president of the campus albino club, no wonder he’s against global warming!
Aren’t vampires supposed be, like, sexy?
His name is spelled Evil, as in Doctor Evil, not McElveen…
—
At 12:37 PM on 22 August, mikelorrey had written:
“Frankly I am disappointed in the UVA leftists. Anybody who is anybody in politics knows you can get all the protesters you need by sending a bus around to the local homeless shelters and undocumented worker pickup points.”
Apparently all of the qualified community organizers in the area are concentrated downstream in the Potomac watershed, leaving none in the distribution of the James (where Charlottesville is located).
Now, were there a gathering of folk to condemn Dr. Mann and to praise Mr. Cuccinelli’s effort to recover taxpayer funds misappropriated to the support of the Hockey Schtick fraud, I have little doubt that the regional TEA Party types would have had no difficulty aggregating people in such numbers that the local NBC affiliate would have been hard-pressed to photograph and report the demonstrations at all.
—
Imagine a politician throwing a party just before the elections, and nobody goes………..It’s that bad……….poor Mann.
There was a larger group of protesters when WKRP switched to rock and roll. I’m surprised AGW is even getting any press these days, it’s such an unpopular topic.
Academia – the only place left on the planet not constrained by the laws of man.
Pretty good thesis! Where do I go to sign up for a job?