A media without shame drives us towards energy poverty.
By: Dr. Tim Ball and Tim Harris
Said Thomas Jefferson: “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.” Jefferson’s comment may be expanded to include most of today’s mass media; this is especially true of television. As American linguist Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa said: “In the age of television, image becomes more important than substance.” It is effectively visual lying, dictated by Marshall McLuhan’s observation: “The medium is the message.” For example, TV news programs often illustrate air pollution with a smoke stack emitting water vapor, implying it is pollution when it is anything but.
Distortion and deception are accentuated by hyperbole. Television news and documentaries frequently report normal weather as “extreme weather,” implying it is abnormal and caused by human activity. But while a hurricane, for example, may inflict serious damage to our structures and cause major loss of life, it is a normal event in hurricane-prone regions, where it is foolish to live without preparing for the weather patterns of the area.
The problem is accentuated when supposedly prestigious newspapers like the New York Times present provably false information. “Summer’s Beast is Loose,” published in the Times on July 16, was an obvious attempt to sensationalize warm, but normal, summer temperatures:
Read the entire piece at http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-age-of-hyperbole/?singlepage=true.
There is no such thing as AGW because you cannot heat water through the surface. The sun does not “heat” the ocean it radiates it. No extra heat goes in because the ocean will not accept it. The environmental movement needs to be asked about the role of surface tension jn the global warming narrative and watch them squirm. Get a heat gun and try heating water.
They’re still learning:
It means a wholly different kind of weather story than the one we’ve told for centuries, and we’re still learning how to tell it.
Give them a chance. Sheesh. Good journalism doesn’t just happen overnight.
The destruction of civilization and world wide poverty are not unfortunate consequences. They are necessary goals, needed in order to make the world safe for socialism. They will never let this go, no matter what the facts are. They have already proven that they can get the populace to believe any lie they want.
When was the last time the Editorial board of the NYTs sat on a stoop?
The bubble they live in will eventually burst.
Extreme? They don’t know the meaning of the word. We live in a benign climate at present. Look what they had to put up with in 13th Century England-This from the diaries of Matthew Paris
—— ——–
1228 inundations of rivers in Dec Jan and Feb –in Worcester- such that no one then living had ever seen the like in their time
1229 severe winter ‘unusually bitter, waters so frozen horsemen could cross upon the ice, great snow afterwards earth covered for several days.’
1231 March to October hardly any rain anywhere in England-great drought
1233 wet summer from 23 March with great inundations of rain through the whole summer destroying warrens and washed away the ponds and mills throughout almost all England. Water formed into lakes in middle of the crops where the fishes of the rivers were seen to great astonishment and mills were standing in various places they had never before been seen.
1233-1234 severe frost from Christmas 1233 to Feb 2 1234 destroying roots of trees to four foot down then rest of year very unseasonable
1234 third unseasonable year
Wet weather in autumn choked the seed and loosened it.
1236 great floods in Jan, Feb and part of March that no one had seen the like before. Bridges submerged, fords impassable, mills and ponds overwhelmed and sown land meadows and marshes covered. Thames flooded palace of Westminster so small boat could be navigated in the midst of the forecourt. And folk went to their bed chambers on horseback
Followed by dry summer with intolerable heat that all lasted four months. Deep pools and ponds were dried up and water mils useless.
1237 great rains in February, fords and roads impassable for 8 successive days
Turbulent year stormy and unsettled
1238 great floods in many parts probably December
Cloudy and rainy in beginning until spring had passed then the drought and heat were beyond measure and custom in two or more of the summer months. Great deluge of rain in the autumn that straw and grain became rotten and an unnatural autumn which is held to be a cold and dry season gave rise to various fatal diseases.
1239 very wet weather continually from Jan to March, it has continued for four months without intermission.
1240 dry Jan to March, wet from April to December but fruitful and abundant but wet and rainy autumn greatly choked the abundant crops.
1241 drought from March 25 to Oct 28 drought and intolerable heat. Pastures withered, herds pined away from hunger and thirst
December very cold and bitter weather the like of which no one had seen before, binding the rivers killing large numbers of birds
Tonyb
Oh No! Tim Ball is channelling Al Gore’s undergraduate thesis on the role of TV in electoral outcomes .
The real quote from McLuhan is ” With the advent of television, advertising has become more important than products.”
Speaking of Thomas Jefferson, he wrote something rather poignant just before his death. Jefferson was invited to a 50th anniversary gala celebrating the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. It’s a matter of wonder to me, and surprisingly little known, that Thomas Jefferson (and also John Adams – the 2nd US President) died on July 4, 1826, the exact 50th anniversary of the Declaration he penned. Anyway, Jefferson’s health was failing and he sent a letter in his place to the celebration. It would be the last letter he would ever write. In it he wrote, “The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately by the grace of God.”
I don’t pretend to know what Thomas Jefferson would think about the great (and I think fraudulent) scientific issue of this day. But there’s no denying that the ‘general spread of the light of science’ has been twisted and distorted so as to once again insure that a ‘favored few, booted and spurred’ are once again, as throughout prior history, ‘ready to ride the mass of mankind’ upon which the political elites and rent seekers will have placed ‘saddles upon their backs.’
Something that plays into this is civilization and building climate control. As people spend less time outdoors, they lose contact with the variable and violent nature of weather. People who sail or farmers or foresters etc understand the true state of nature better than folks who spend the majority of their lives indoors.
Building climate control plays into this because it has reduced our direct effort to modify the indoor climate (you don’t have to chop wood etc), one simply pushes a few buttons and the perfect temperature is achieved.
My fellow sailors have noted that modern life also disconnects people from wind and it’s power. The end result being that on the occasion when one is abruptly confronted with the true condition of the natural environment, it seems extreme.
We often note how much worse the seas are when you are in them (on a boat) than after you get back on shore and are enjoying a cold beverage looking out over the water.
Gerry Parker
You see, they’re no longer allowed in the mainstream media (MSM) to hurl gutter level abuse at foreigners, non-whites, non-Christians or most minorities, but if you do happen to disagree with an establishment doctrine; that stricture simply ceases to apply to you. The gloves come off and the rules of civilised discourse are forgotten. You can quite safely be called a racist, redneck, elitist, denier, sexist, flat-earther (thank you for that one from the supposed democratic leader of the free world), a shill, insane, Aryan Nation, a flag fetishist, a paid protester, a conspiracy nut or whatever they need to label you, to simply avoid addressing your awkward questions.
http://thepointman.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/know-your-enemy-the-establishment-journalist/
Pointman
oh well, I thought they burned people at the stake for that…
you know, casting spells and controlling the weather
Gerry Parker says:
July 31, 2013 at 9:22 am
Something that plays into this is civilization and building climate control. As people spend less time outdoors, they lose contact with the variable and violent nature of weather.
You are so right!
As a software engineer I spent most of my life in air conditioned computer rooms writing code.
When I turned 40 I had some extra vacation time, so I took sailing lessons. What a mind opening experience. Loved it so much I took up sailboat racing.
It’s very strange to talk to non-sailors about weather!
RMB says: July 31, 2013 at 8:25 am
…. about not heating water form above …etc…
Take a look at solar ponds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_pond
more here: http://www.enersalt.com.au/Local%20Publish/html/solar_ponds.html
It’s not about reporting facts and truth but about perpetuating lies and distortions.
Here is ‘extreme weather‘ at a time of safer, lower co2.
Here is extreme climate at a time of safer, lower co2.
While it’s reasonable to say that hurricanes are not unusual, I think it’s pushing a point to say they are not an extreme of weather.
Only the concentration of people into cities could allow such a mistaken meme to take hold.
Climate controlled shopping mall, food from the supermarket, water from the tap and money from the government.Such ignorance, while being a Progressive’s heaven, cannot end well.
Extreme weather? Mush for brains.
Of course this propaganda can backfire spectacularly, after all if very storm is extreme weather, mother nature is enraged,then nature hates us, we must destroy nature. Which does seem to be the sentiments of these anti humanist nitwits.
Funny how doomspeaking over weather events has not changed since we developed language.
MarkX, long wave radiation only penetrates a few mm and causes the water molecule ions to arrange in crystal like stuctures–causing what we know as surface tension with very little heating. Only visible light penetrates further and causes heating
Good item.
If (if) there are more “extreme” events today than in (say) the past 30 years then it seems we should be using the phrase, “The Old Normal” vs “the new normal.” It seems as what we are seeing is what have seen for the past many decades and as noted it is a just a function of over reporting and hyperbole. Nothing new in what I am saying.
Good grief when my granddad homesteaded in Alberta in the early 1900s and saw a funnel cloud he may not even remember to mention it the next time he saw his closest neighbour two weeks in the future. Today? Cell images. Instant transmission. Instant reports in TV.
In the past few years, Environment Canada (EC) has issued way more tornado warnings in Alberta. Of course, actual tornadoes are still rare. But A) Today EC has Doppler radar (or whatever it is called) and they can detect cell rotation whereas a few years ago they could not. And B) Mostly they are covering their backsides so warn people of the possibility of anything.
Next we will be seeing:
Environment Canada (EC) has just issued a “breeze and fluffy cloud” alert for southern Alberta. Residents are urged to take suitable protection as fluffy clouds could lead to all sorts of dangerous weather. Residents of Lethbridge have reported seeing clouds and seeing flags fluttering and warn that these could develop into more clouds and more wind and if that happens these could develop in to wind gusts and maybe a few showers. And if that happens, the showers could become rain and rain become hail and if it gets windy…well, woe is us. EC also reports that the winds and fluffy clouds could stay lovely and and if we have a romantic evening, they warn that unprotected sex will lead to increased global population and demands on food supply. So if you take cover from fluffy clouds under the covers, use a condom. The next warning will be published in a few minutes.
Boo.
How normal weather became extreme? Ask newspapers like The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/britain-basks-in-sunshine-at-last-but-is-it-all-part-of-the-same–global-pattern-of-freak-weather-8691112.html
Some of the skeptic posters could use a hand at the comments section of the Independent article.
You don’t expect the media to verify what their sources give them, do you? Seriously, who’d have time to work on their novels if they spent all day trying to verify what some self-proclaimed expert tells them?
@marx:
“If the water is relatively translucent, and the pond’s bottom has high optical absorption, then nearly all of the incident solar radiation (sunlight) will go into heating the bottom layer.”
Ok, but the bottom of the ocean isn’t translucent, it’s pitch black. Surely then, we should be seeing a pattern of warming in the upper layers where sunlight actually reaches first, then (maybe) an increase in the lower depths via convection?
@TomJ
Well said. Is TomJ short for Thomas Jefferson or is that just a coincidence?
Chris, No the water is not translucent to long wave and conributes little to warming
New learnings on water—water crystals–surface tension:
Wonderful video–go to around minute 39:
KNMI has new cool feature – extreme indices calculation for daily station data, like consecutive wet or dry days, number of wet or extremely wet days per month, fraction of precipitation on wet days etc. There is no trend for local stations I checked up to now /not surprising/.
Shano on July 31, 2013 at 11:39 am
@TomJ
Well said. Is TomJ short for Thomas Jefferson or is that just a coincidence?
Thanks. I wish it was but it’s not.