From Penn State, the best news they’ve had all month:
Mann to receive Hans Oeschger Medal from European Geosciences Union
Michael Mann, professor of meteorology and geosciences and director, Earth System Science Center, Penn State, was awarded the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union.
The medal was established in 2001 in recognition of the scientific achievements of Hans Oeschger to honor outstanding scientists whose work is related to climate: past, present and future.
Mann’s research involves the use of theoretical models and observational data to better understand Earth’s climate system. He is best known for the “hockey stick,” a chart he and his co-authors published in 1999 using proxy climate data such as tree-rings and ice cores to estimate temperatures over the past thousand years. The hockey stick demonstrated that temperatures had risen with the increase in industrialization and use of fossil fuels and is the subject of Mann’s new book, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars,” due out in early 2012.
Mann received his undergraduate degrees in physics and applied math from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.S. in physics and a Ph.D. in geology and geophysics from Yale University. He was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report and has served as chair for the National Academy of Sciences “Frontiers of Science.” In 2007 he shared the Nobel Prize with other IPCC lead authors.
He will receive his award during the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union, April 22-27, 2012, in Vienna, Austria. Mann will also present a Medal Lecture during the conference.
This is a just another example where awardees are selected less on the basis of the truth veracity of their accomplishments and more on the basis of the alignment of the message of their exploits with the political motivations of the organization(s) behind the selection.
It happens way too often and diminishes the selection of those whom are deserving. At some point you’d hope that the selecting organizations would feel the damage to their reputations, but that is certainly wishful thinking.
At 9:57 PM on 16 November, Rattus Norvegicus writes in response to HankH:
Which instantly evokes a remark made by John Randolph of Roanoake in the early years of our American republic:
Medals are overrated – We don’t need no stinking badges to spot a looney
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/07/25/article-2018506-0D27C52100000578-476_306x490.jpg
My god all those qualifications and not one used properly.
At 2:20 AM on 17 November, Joe Horner had written that:
This World War Two observation about the U.S. Army (and the U.S. Army Air Forces in particular) was prevalent also in the United States’ Naval Service, especially in the U.S. Marine Corps, and it wasn’t unknown among the dogface soldiers – the guys on the sharp end – themselves.
Look up cartoonist Bill Mauldin, and check out his Stars and Stripes cartoon” captioned:
Mauldin got a lot of flack from the brassbound West Point Protective Association lifers for that innocent little comment about medals handed out to the REMFs like Chiclets.
Marion says:
November 17, 2011 at 3:30 am
Interesting that Ray Bradley was one member of the panel awarding the medal!!
http://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/award-medal-committees.html
Oh, and that Phil Jones is also a previous recipient what a small incestuous world climate science is!!
—
Well, that explains a lot! In any case, this award is PURELY POLITICAL. They’re basically trying to prop him up and provide some legitimacy to his work as climate science in general struggles for future funding* and attempts to get its message out to the public. I’m sure they could have selected among many other equally deserving members.
*Unfortunately here in the U.S., billions of dollars in climate ca$h that the taxpayers can’t afford is flowing quite freely to the climate elites…
According to the source above (http://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/awards-and-medals/award/hans-oeschger.html), they have this:
“…It is reserved for scientists for their outstanding achievements in ice research and/or short term climatic changes (past, present, future)…”
And Mann qualified for this in what way? If using ice core data (proxies) to ESTIMATE temperatures over the past thousand years makes him eligible, imagine what awards he’d get if he really applied himself.
I’ve watched ice melt in a glass of scotch. Can I get the award, too?
Science and politics make strange bedfellows.
I earned a Rifle Expert medal in the United States Marine Corps which essentially means I can, among other things, reliably put neat little 5.56 millimeter holes in a Hans Oeschger medal from a distance of 100 yards in the offhand standing position with an open sight M-16 combat assault rifle.
But speaking of Hans reminds me of Switzerland where Hans spent his entire life. Switzerland, the “other Germany” which didn’t take sides in World War II. The country where all the biggest criminals hide their money. Switzerland, where heinous crimes committed in other countries are just not their concern. Kind of makes you wonder why they’d be concernced about environmental carnage given they happily hold the booty from oil profiteers in their anonymous no-questions-asked banking industry. I would waste a bullet putting a hole in the Hans Oeschger medal unless some criminal happened to be wearing it at the time…
R. Gates says:
November 16, 2011 at 9:46 pm
OK. In a similar vein, then: “Good for Al Gore, Pachuri, Arafat, and Obama….for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.” Congratulations!”
All these men will be remembered long after most of have turned to dust…but then again, so will Osama and Charles Manson.
_______________________________________________________
I’m not sure that will be much consolation as they spend an eternity shining their medals in the depths of Hell.
My! The trolls have been about! Now, after his efforts for Jones we really need to see the emails that brought about this farcical lump of bronze! I wonder how much carbon was consumed in nudging the award and actually forging ( 😉 ) it
Was my comment about me receiving an “Rifle Expert” medal in the United States Marine Corps over the top or something? I mean just because I talked about being able to put 5.56 millimeter holes in Hans Oeschger medals from a great distance didn’t necessarily mean I wanted to do that while any recipients were wearing them.
Or maybe it was talking about Switzerland being where the all the big oil profiteers keep their money? I have no respect for Switzerland. Not a single iota. Most of it stems from their total non-concern about atrocities committed outside their own country while happilly being the bankers for terrorists and anyone else needing a safe haven to hide money.
I don’t get it. Why is the director of “Miami Vice” and “Heat” getting a climate medal? 😀
I presume that the award was for a paper entitled “How To Make Money Out Of Horse Offal”.
James Sexton says:
November 16, 2011 at 11:04 pm
He gave up any credibility he could have had with the Tijlander debacle
Exactly. That EGU (or “Rattus Norvegicus”) just ignore this, tells me that they either don’t understand how bad the Tiljander data abuse was (which is a shame, since Mann was responsible for abusing it again just a few months ago, as one of the authors of Kemp 2011), or that they are willing to sacrifice the quality of science for their own political agenda.
I’m thinkin’ the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union is given out for attendance. Right? Or participation?
I fully expected Mann to winn a medal – the Trofim Lysenko medal.
The Trofim Lysenko medal is awarded to that scientist, who, in the opinion of the committee, has made the greatest effort to pervert and twist the cause of science for political ends.
He is best known for the “hockey stick,” a chart he and his co-authors published in 1999 using cherry picked climate data such as tree-rings found in only one tiny corner of the planet. By dint of supreme effort, Mann extracted those rings which by chance happened to show minute, hockey-stick like tendencies, and weighted them 396 times. The hockey stick then purported to demonstrate that temperatures had risen with the increase in industrialization and use of fossil fuels and is the subject of Mann’s new book, “How I was mistaken for a climate scientist.”
When asked for his reaction, Mann replied: “I can do science, me.”
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary – GK
English
Shinola
Etymology
A colloquialism which dates back to the early 1940s in the United States. [1] Shinola is a once-popular, now-defunct shoe polish brand, which had a color and texture not unlike feces; the joke in the idiom being that only a stupid person could confuse the two upon more than a passing glance.
Verb
to know sh*t from Shinola
1. (US) To have the most basic level of intelligence or common sense.
That’s great for him, but unfortunately, I don’t think they allow the wearing or even posession of medals in the state pen.
I think Maurice Strong ought to become Chief Justice in the Supreme Court of Canada while at it…
From Dave Springer on November 17, 2011 at 7:14 am:
Bah. A real “rifle expert” would be using at least 7.62x51mm NATO. I thought Marines trained to shoot people, not poodles!
Late in the day, but I agree. This blog’s civility is one of the reasons it’s so widely respected, and that diminishes it.
/Mr Lynn
That is the problem with whitewash, if the first coat is inadequate, you have to keep adding new coats.
Interesting CNN video on Penn State’s unusual exemption from open records laws:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#/video/us/2011/11/15/ac-griffin-penn-state-secrecy.cnn
From Mr Lynn on November 17, 2011 at 8:28 am:
Civility is a wonderful thing, among ladies and gentlemen who respect the rules of polite discourse. But given the frequently-encountered quality of the opposition and their noted ability to resort to base disparaging attacks, when the insistent continual usage of politeness would be seen as weakness, I take comfort that Anthony is fully capable, if needed, of informing a deserving individual that they are indeed a f***ing b****rd who’s full of sh*t.
😉
[REPLY: I don’t recall Anthony ever using that terminology. -REP]