Paul Westhaver writes in Tips and Notes:
CNN talking empty head (Feyerick) asks Bill Nye if approaching Meteor was a result of global warming…. but Bill’s response is oddly disquieting.
“Except it’s all science,” Nye said rescuing Feyerick. “The word meteorology and the word meteor come from the same root, so…”
Nye went on to discuss the asteroid which has missed impacting earth by 15 minutes. He says if this body were to impact over a populated area like New York City, that municipality would be completely leveled.
It gets worse. Mumbles McGuirk adds in Tips and Notes:
[T]his Saturday MSNBC broadcast with Bill Nye explaining that GW will cause storms to spin counter-clockwise in the ‘new normal.’
Bill Nye explains the science of storms
Bill Nye “The Science Guy” joins MSNBC’s Craig Melvin to talk about how climate change contributed to this weekend’s blizzard in the Northeast.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/msnbc/50756384/#50756384
Gotta love the way Nye explains the Coriolis force.
We can only hope the stupid burns up in the atmosphere, either by re-entry or Global Warming.
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Great! The uninformed masses get their science information from a comedian with a degree in mechanical engineering.
So was she taking the p*ss and implying that since every other ‘disaster’ is due to AGW, this must be too? If so, cool.
Or was she pretending to be the dumb blond for entertainment? If so, shame on her.
Or is she genuinely so thick that the question was serious? If so, sack her.
Saw the first clip over the weekend – dumb questions coupled with transmission lags do not lead to informative conversations. In a sense I felt sorry for Bill Nye – but only a little bit.
Then I watched the 2nd clip. Frankly, the man is a menace. He confuses people. A depression will always produce nor-easters and sou-westers (plus sou-easters and nor-westers) relative to where the observer and the eye of the depression are. How many NBC viewers understand cyclones and anti-cyclones?
Why scare the beejazus out of people by discussing catastrophic impacts, when he knows (and states) that the asteroid is going to miss? Why the reference to geostationary satellites, thus soliciting the ‘Oh!’ response from the desk-dork whose income depends upon 24/7 coverage?
“Is this caused by global warming”? “No, the asteroid exists far beyond Earth’s atmosphere”.
“Should we be worried”? “No”.
“Nothing to see here – move on”.
I am far from happy with the UK Met Office and the BBC, but I am really glad I am not bombarded with expert opinions suitable for sub-sub average IQ viewers. We’re lucky, we just get the sub-average IQ stuff.
Before Skeptic and other the UK residents get too cocky, remember Natasha Kaplinsky!
BTW Bill, 2000 Km2 is NOT 1200 Mi2.
bubbagyro says:
February 11, 2013 at 8:17 am
Liberal Skeptic:
Even your post is confused and convoluted. What are you saying?
I was referring to the opening line of the post.
“Paul Westhaver writes in Tips and Notes: CNN talking empty head (Feyerick) asks Bill Nye if approaching Meteor was a result of global warming…. but Bill’s response is oddly disquieting.”
His response is to say “no,no” and explain that meteorology and meteors are linked only by a similar name and then moves on. Presumably seeing the blank look on the presenters face.
There’s nothing disquieting and response and this whole post has an undercurrent of implying Bill Nye actually agreed with that comment. He clearly didn’t.
I can’t comment on the rest of Bill Nyes comments, I know nothing about weather, only the English language and computers.
He appears to blame the Coriolis effect on global warming. I doubt that is what he meant, but his whole fame is as a communicator of science, and to make such imprecise or even dubious statements as he did is not good communication at all. That is even without considering whether he is right about CAGW – or the utter dishonesty of the experiment he was involved in to demonstrate the greenhouse effect of CO2, which did nothing of the sort.
Joseph E Postma says:
February 11, 2013 at 7:58 am
“Does anybody realize how stupid society is becoming, or at least how stupid the “news” is?”
My theory is that TV does not only make the viewer dumber but also the TV persons themselves; it works in both directions. Probably because the TV people love watching TV themselves, whether their own shows or shows of colleagues.
My Hemorrhoids are getting worse! I think it’s being caused by global warming.
DirkH says:
February 11, 2013 at 10:09 am
Joseph E Postma says:
February 11, 2013 at 7:58 am
“Does anybody realize how stupid society is becoming, or at least how stupid the “news” is?”
My theory is that TV does not only make the viewer dumber but also the TV persons themselves; it works in both directions. Probably because the TV people love watching TV themselves, whether their own shows or shows of colleagues.
I don’t think it has anything to do with the news or TV. That is just a symptom of a wider problem. All Western Society, but I’m noticing USA in particular has a real problem with anti-intellectualism. It’s considered perfectly acceptable not to have any critical thinking skills and know very little and show very little interest in even basic science.
Global warming will also reverse the quantum spin of electrons. Hell, it will turn “up” quarks to “down.” Not to mention “top” to “bottom.” Right? Uh…
<i<Joseph E Postma says, February 11, 2013 at 7:58 am: "Does anybody realize how stupid society is becoming, or at least how stupid the “news” is?"
==========================================================
Joseph, calling people who have been misled by scientists, press and politicians “stupid” is not right and is counterproductive.
Maybe we should analyze her comment using “blond logic”: If a hot blond can attract male satellites, why couldn’t a hot planet attract asteroids?
Re:
Jeff L says:
February 11, 2013 at 8:04 am
“GW will cause storms to spin counter-clockwise in the ‘new normal.’”
That’s not a fair paraphrase of what Bill Nye says.
What he said at 2.12 is:
“….This could be the future everybody, this could be the new normal with all the extra heat energy that’s in the atmosphere, with climate change…”
He’s not a stupid man. We might disagree about whether there is more heat energy in the atmosphere, but he didn’t just suggest that Northern hemisphere storms will reverse direction from now onwards.
Eric Simpson says: Also, start thinking about changing the way students are educated in college. Get down to the roots, or start some kind of penetrating conversations that get the young elites to start thinking differently about agw, and / or other issues.
————
Too late Eric – the education system is fully indoctrinated in Marxist beliefs. It goes way back and there is almost no way to change it short of scrapping the entire system and terminating the employment of every teacher, principal and education bureaucratic. Here’s an example of training teachers to use Alsinky’s version of the Marxist Delphi Technique for alienating anyone who might pose a threat to the realization of their agenda, marginalizing dissenting parents, and effecting a left-wing take over of the schools.
http://www.learn-usa.com/transformation_process/roa018.htm
They are out in the open about their Marxist agenda, just check out conferences today like this:
http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/11/northwestern-u-marxism-conference-packed-with-teachers/
And when it comes to climate change specifically check out the garbage like this:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13224
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/climate-change-education/
http://ncse.com/climate/climate-change-101/what-can-we-do
It is endless and comes from everywhere in the education community as well as the activist NGOs.
A dumb as a bag of rocks news anchor,,,ok. But the “science guy’s” response to her question is absolutely shocking. HE DOESN’T DENY that the asteroid that will fly by us on Friday was caused by global warming. He says a lot of words and tap dances around her question, but doesn’t say no, it wasn’t caused by global warming. Absolutely astounding. And he is the medias go-to guy on science questions.
CNN and Bill Nye would have been better off consulting Wikipedia as it has a good straightforward description and image graphic of the orbit near Earth:
“2012 DA14 is a near-Earth asteroid with an estimated diameter of about 50 meters (160 ft) and an estimated mass of about 180,000 metric tons.[4] It was discovered on February 23, 2012, by the OAM Observatory, La Sagra in Spain (J75)[1] seven days after passing 0.0174 AU (2,600,000 km; 1,620,000 mi) from Earth on February 16.[3] Calculations show that on February 15, 2013, the distance between the asteroid and the center-point of Earth will be 0.000228 AU (34,100 km; 21,200 mi).[3] The asteroid will pass 27,700 km (17,200 mi) from the surface of Earth.[2] The 2013 passage of 2012 DA14 by Earth is a record close approach for a known object of this size.[2]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_DA14
The Question asked by the air-head Feyerick: “Is the asteroid, 2012 DA14, coming our way an effect of global warming?” shouldn’t be addressed to “The “Sciency Guy Bill Nye”; the question should be addressed to our good friends Seth D. Baum and Jacob D. Haqq-Misra of Penn State University and Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman of NASA. As you may recall, these gentlemen warned us (Precautionary Principle Memo – ready for transmission Posted on August 30, 2011 by Anthony Watts http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/30/precautionary-principle-memo-ready-for-transmission/) about transmitting false statements (especially false statements about global warming) to space lest Ecosystem-Valuing Universalist Extraterrestrial Intelligence (EVUETI) get pissed off and do us harm. Why do I think Baum’s, Haqq-Misra’s and Domagal-Goldman’s answer to the above asteroid question just might be: “The asteroid is a warning shot fired across our bow by EVUETIs. Next time they won’t miss.”
Yes, Greg many of us do realize it and there’s nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade, sorry for anyone who thinks its wrong but that’s their particular private value system, not mine. It’s correct and needed, imo. Understanding the stupidity of the public, and the malice of the propagandists is the first step towards wisdom.
Bill Nye forgot to mention that this variant of asteroid is “heat seeking”. Now that we’re clear on that, it is obvious why global warming would lead to an asteroid strike. Come on people – get up to date on the science!
Richard Carlson, he very much does deny it when says “no, no” immediately after she says it. Nye is guilty of many things and over simplifying to the point of being wrong on many occasions. But he did not at any point agree with the suggestion that global warming caused an asteroid.
OFFICIAL
Climate Change is cause a massive decrease in average male penis .
Sorry Ladies its on the internet so must be true.And if you rationally question it your a Denier.
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/09…shrinking/
A Italian study though not directly linking Climate Change does mention Smoking Alcohol Obesity and stress and most importantly Air Pollution so that’s Defiantly Climate Change then .So humans are to blame. Tut Tut
This is sorta-kinda on topic and off – more about the US edjumacation system then Nye’s attempts (if you can call them that) at science.
A couple of days ago the Education Director for New York State was testifying before a congressional committee. In his remarks he used the word “Incentivised”. Used in a sentence it would be “We need teachers to be incentivised.”
With leaders like this, is it any wonder our schools are producing unthinking graduates? I thought I was taught in an authoritarian climate, yet at the proper time (high school I think) a gifted teacher taught the class to question statements by allowing his pronouncements to be questioned. Most were true, but some were balderdash (we couldn’t use the other BS word in class).
Seems these days few learn to question those in authority.
Mike
I quit my membership in the Planetary Society years ago because of Bill Nye. As long as he’s there I won’t be…
Liberal Skeptic says:
I don’t think it has anything to do with the news or TV. That is just a symptom of a wider problem. All Western Society, but I’m noticing USA in particular has a real problem with anti-intellectualism. It’s considered perfectly acceptable not to have any critical thinking skills and know very little and show very little interest in even basic science.
Greg House says:
Joseph, calling people who have been misled by scientists, press and politicians “stupid” is not right and is counterproductive.
—
Anti-intellectualism is not really a good proxy for the source of stupidity – it is a result, obviously. It isn’t even about interest in science, as many people are seemingly interested in science but they’re too stupid to detect the fraud of climate change alarm; so again, there must be another actual cause. Part of that cause is the liberal mentality, or at least, the liberal mentality is highly associated with the type of stupidity that leads to belief in climate alarm, or which might have a difficult time distinguishing causes from effects. Greg makes the point about stupidity, and I agree people can’t be blamed for being tricked, up to a point.
They CAN be blamed for choosing to continue to believe in a morally degenerate and pseudoscientific fraud once they’ve been exposed to the truth countless times. They CAN be blamed for supporting policies and holding a philosophy of human life and society which is anti-human and which harms people, and which is debasing in its essence towards human existence. They CAN be blamed for not understanding what it takes to keep them alive, and for supporting policies which would remove the support of their very own lives. They CAN be blamed for supporting population reduction while imagining that because they support this, it won’t apply to them, etc.
And the point about stupidity is also the fact that the news is literally more stupid, as some form of a feedback mechanism as someone suggested. Stupidity is a real thing in the world, it actually exists, and there should be nothing wrong with pointing it out as helpful criticism.
For example, take this conversation with a liberal.
Real person to Liberal: “It is stupid to kill yourself.”
Liberal: “Don’t call me stupid.”
See? There’s no rationality there. They won’t discuss the actual science or the actual logic of killing yourself or holding a philosophy which is antithetical to human progress; they’ll just change the conversation to how it makes them feel. That is: “Even if it is wrong, it is right.” “Yes, but, it isn’t right, it is stupid, and it will kill you.” “Don’t call me stupid.”