Joe Romm is sooo entertaining these days. Yesterday, when I pointed out to him McIntyre’s takedown of Marcott et al, he came to the immediate conclusion that I was an “instrumental record denier”, apparently sent that assertion to Mike Mann, who then a few minutes later made it a “News Alert” on his Twitter feed, only to be forced to retract it later.
Today, denying the existence of the issues that essentially falsify the Marcott et al paper, while at the same time making sure his readers have absolutely no link to the contrary findings, or even to name “he who must not be named” lest readers might be tempted to Google it, Romm has a new post up, pushing yet again his hilarious projection of the future:
Like a dog playing fetch, he only sees the stick, runs after it, and completely misses the fact that the small blue uptick upon which he bases his projection premise has been shown to be nothing more than an artifact of the shoddy science (removal of some unfavorable proxies) that somehow made it past peer review.
I have decided that this insistence on seeing sticks where there are none needs a label, and here’s what I have decided upon. “stickophrenia”. Here’s the definition:
Stickophrenia is one of the most chronic (long-lasting) and disabling of climate science disorders. People with stickophrenia see hockey sticks where none exist, and the sticks can be made up of just about any data on hand. It is a climate science disorder that causes easily identifiable symptoms such as:
- Hockey Hallucinations (seeing sticks that don’t exist)
- Data Delusions (bizarre thoughts of the data producing hockey sticks, where the data can’t possibly produce one)
- Disordered thinking, to the point of arranging data to make sticks to satisfy urges
- Social media bloviation
- Denial of contrary science, opinions, and data that don’t show hockey sticks
It would be tempting to label Romm as “patient zero” but that honor really should go to Mike Mann.
Romm in his article says we have no social media traction, but let’s see how far “stickophrenia” can go.
Stickophenia is perfect. Especially in the context of the great Phrenology rage of the nineteenth century. It too was sciency. Just by feeling and cataloging the bumps on your head all manner of things about your value and your future could be told. It was almost as sciency as the Eugenics that followed hard on its heels. If only you can feel the bumps that are the science of aggregated flat line proxy temperatures then behold, through stickophrenia those bumps can be digitized, graphed and held up to the world as proof of the coming warmth. Oh wait…it hasn’t gotten warmer? What? Let me fondle those bumps just once more and see if we can get a stick to rise from phrenological ooze and lead us into the light. Hallelujah!
The hockey stick has achieved religious significance among the warmists and is summoned whenever the warmist data needs extra power, maybe it should be called the Holy Hockey Stick of Manntalk (apologies to Monty Python and the holy hand grenade of Antioch).
Stickeidolia.
I am tempted to go to Romm’s post to see his latest excursion into climate folly, but do not want to give him a “hit” in the blog.
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Hansonalitosis Phobia : The fear of exhalation.
Stickophrenian: I see hockey sticks 🙂
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2011/6/24/zombie-science-josh-109.html
Stickophrenia in your theater today: The hockey sticks and the climate wars:
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2012/3/21/mann-overboard-josh-157.html
Stickophrenology overheated: hockey sticks overwarmed:
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2012/6/11/burn-after-reading-josh-171.html
Isn’t the main point here that if the actual proxy data is used without manipulation it shows a big decline in the 20th century where actual instrumental measurements show a rise? Doesn’t that demonstrate conclusively that the proxies aren’t ‘robust’ and that the reconstruction of past temperature isn’t scientifically valid???
The price of EU carbon credits has sunk to an all time low.
The EU is now considering swapping carbon trading for a new market in trading hockey sticks and upticks.
Does anyone know the going rate is for an uptick? Or a corrupted scientific hockey stick?
Will Moody’s and Fitch be rating these sticks and upticks?
Ok, I see an easy debunk of this…Marcotte et al have their hockey stick starting in 1950. I think we all would have noticed the 7-8C uptick in the last 60 years, wouldn’t we?
The simplest and robust test for stickophrenia is an inabilty to draw straight lines through raw data points..
the oldest stickophrenia case known from the archives: pinockey stickophrenia:
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2011/3/8/josh-84.html
Thanks Josh for the good laugh!!
Hockey is a popular sport in Canada. What irony that it’s a Canadian that is so effective at shredding them.
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Well, I don’t know about the rest of the globe but here in Ohio I know I used my snow shovel more this year than last year. But I’m not a “Climate Scientist” so maybe I’m mistaken.
Hansantanitis Phobia: The fear that bad little boys will get coal in their stockings.
Stickophrenia Variant: Mannchousen By Proxy, in which a climate scientist induces apparent symptoms of climate disease by manipulating proxy data in order to be perceived as heroically rescuing the world. A form of child abuse.
Something to keep some eyes open for …. I happened to notice that Marcott co-author Jeremy Shakun, although based at Harvard on a fellowship this year, taught the 1-month January ’13 term at Middlebury College (some liberal arts colleges have a 3 or 4 week intensive “winter term” in January, usually for one intensive course or internship). Middlebury College is where the uber-activist Bill McKibben is based, using that snowy cum verdant corner of academe to wage war on evil fossil fuel guzzling deniers (sic).
This does not necessarily mean that McKibben had anything to do with Shakun as a visiting lecturer at Middlebury — even in small colleges, with many of which I am very familiar, departmental boundaries can be strict, different profs don’t necessarily get along or work together, etc. McKibben has some non-science appointment for enviro journalism, whereas Shakun’s course was for the Geology Dept. I have no idea if Shakun and McKibben even know each other, but at a small campus like Middlebury, with relatively few faculty teaching in enviro and earth related areas, it would be surprising if Shakun was brought there recently for a month for any reason except that he nicely fit into the “narrative” of McKibben et al.
Not saying Shakun has any activist affinities with 350.org, and of course scientists have every citizen’s right to participate and agitate etc. for any of their views, but it can be well worth knowing when a supposedly “objective” study comes down the pike which (perhaps) was not generated out of some purist science-for-its-own sake spirit and method. I only got onto this track because in Shakun’s video interview with Revkin I thought “this guy sounds like a political activist not a scientist” — with all his hand-waving, both literal and metaphorical.
Shakun at Middlebury College
Shakun Jan. 2013 course at Middlebury College
OK, but ‘stickophrenia’ is neither good Greek nor good English. Can I suggest ‘rabdophrenia’ from the Greek ‘rabdos’ (a stick) if we are going to put a new word into circulation?
The Climate Progress graph has the Y axis in degrees F. All the graphs I’ve seen excerpted from the Marcott paper are in degrees C. Is it just to make the numbers bigger and scarier? (Aside from the fact that the extrapolation is bogus)
And here in Western Washington I haven’t had to use my snow shovel, or even ice melt, at all. Very different from the last 4 years.
This is why you can’t put a global number on anything.
I am *so* tired of all the talk of Hockey Sticks. Leave Hockey alone!
How ’bout we call Mr. Mann’s well-documented overexcitement just a case of “Temperature Erection”?
Where’s Elmer?? Can Minnesotans for Global Warming do the “Hokey-Pokey”?
Great LOL post by Pat Frank about using children’s song “The Hokey-Pokey” for the climate core-top hokey pokey. This might be inspiration for a new climate video.
The Core-Top Hokey Pokey
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Now imagine that instead of Pat’s link to a kindergarten version, try this one, comedian Jim Breuer channelling AC/DC in AC/DC as inspiration
A key point neglected by Romm and friends is that the tale told by Marcott et al. has too little resolution pre-20th century (can’t really eliminate as much natural variability as Alarmists would like), and then in the 20th century it does not actually track the instrumental records decently at all (thus highlighting Marcott’s ad hoc and careless decisions or errors). Alarmists are already saying “it doesn’t matter” but that is a bizarre stance to take for a study that does this:
Climate Audit on Marcott’s Zonal Reconstructions
JoeJ says:
March 19, 2013 at 8:13 pm
How ’bout we call Mr. Mann’s well-documented overexcitement just a case of “Temperature Erection”?
Well, that makes sense in an interesting new way. See also the link:
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2010/2/18/hiding-the-decline.html
They made a movie about this phenomena, “The Sticks Sense” from which the famous line, “I see hockey sticks” comes from. Surprised no one caught this before!
“…end of stable climate.” Pray tell, what era was climate stable?