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Comment Re:They already have (Score 1) 667

Sure, there are going to be mediating forces in the environment. Melting is an obvious one. The positive feedbacks have been getting the most attention because they are really scary. It appears that there are gas clathrates in the ground and under water that can come out at a certain temperature. The worst case is that we get an event similar to Lake Nyos, but with a somewhat different mechanism and potentially many more dead. The best case is a significant atmospheric input of CO2 and methane that we can't control.

I don't think I have to discount Trenberth. He's trying to correct his model, he isn't saying there is no warming.

Comment Re:They already have (Score 1) 667

Thanks.

McKitrick is an economist out of his field. Trenberth and Fasullo cite many of their other papers and the publications to which they were submitted, but it seems mostly not accepted. But their conclusion seems to be that there were other times in recent years that the rate of warming decreased for a time only for it to return to its previous rate. I only see the abstract for Kosaka and Xie, but they state "the multi-decadal warming trend is very likely to continue with greenhouse gas increase."

Comment Re:From the home of industrial espionage, China (Score -1, Troll) 114

most of the allegations have been proven to be true, the ones that haven't been proven they just refuse to comment on.

The only "proof" is his statements.

he possibly performed one of the bravest acts of all given the US's track record with assassinations.

If he's so brave, then he and his friends can face the Mt. Everest of evidence against him on US soil, in a US court.
The bravest people will be the ones bringing him in.

Besides, Russia's economic position may make it that much easier for the US to walk in and fly out with him. He can only pump out so much to earn his keep before he's worth more in US hands.

Comment You can't please two masters at once. (Score 1) 823

If manufacturers such as Ford are faking cylinders, then it shouldn't be surprising to see them faking engine notes. They're trying to please environmentalists by cutting down the engine; they're using a turbocharger and audio system in an dishonest attempt to please the customer. When said customer actually tries to *use* the engine, they only see how it can't match their expectations.

It might cut it for the granola-eating, Aspen-attending environmentalist with deep pockets, for they can buy whatever they please. On the other hand, the majority of us really don't have much choice in the matter. Perhaps if the environmentalists were kicked out of auto design and CAFE was abolished, we wouldn't have to wonder if our engine's faking it.

When pressing the pedal, a full-displacement engine should be the sole source of engine noise - not a tuned speaker nor a turbocharger.

Comment From the home of industrial espionage, China (Score 0, Troll) 114

Given the historically proven record of China and its espionage, it should be the other way around. It is a part of their history and their culture.

Nortel? After the Chinese were done with them, Huawei and ZTE rose up as PRC military-backed entities.
US government contractors? The Chinese have been continually caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Any company that deals with China? Expect clones if your designs aren't tightly controlled.

On the other hand, the accusations against the US rely on baseless allegations from a cowardly individual. The desire to preserve one's own life, through the trading of national secrets for protection, put the lives of US citizens at danger. Enemies changed their actions based on the improper and unlawful disclosures of classified material.

The only valid response to such demands from China is to turn up the heat on their actions. Huawei's banishment from the US and Australian governments was a good start in that respect.

Comment Re:They already have (Score 1) 667

I imagine that the major financial companies make this part of their economic modeling. Most of them do publish weather-related and climate-related advisories regarding commodity and company price trends, etc. How detailed do they get? The wouldn't tell and I am the wrong kind of scientist to ask. Can we make a government or public one? Yes, the level of detail is the big question.

Comment Re:They already have (Score 1) 667

Oh, do I have to qualify that for you, like the hottest outside of a period of Milankovitch Forcing? Gee, maybe the Earth's orbit changed, like back then, and we just didn't notice.

Let's take a look at one of the references you cited:

A section of a draft IPCC report, looking at short-term trends, says temperatures are likely to be 0.4 to 1.0 degree Celsius (0.7-1.8F) warmer from 2016-35 than in the two decades to 2005. Rain and snow may increase in areas that already have high precipitation and decline in areas with scarcity, it says.

It sounds like we have reason to be alarmed.

Comment Re:They already have (Score 1) 667

Well, I am trying to get through to you. You wrote that the hiatus was widely acknowledged by scientists! It's like talking with someone who believes in god - they have no facts, and no facts will convince them, and they create their own "science" which is nothing of the sort to bolster their viewpoint. So, I tried another another argument. But let's go back to the first. Nobody credible believes in a hiatus.

Comment Re:They already have (Score 1) 667

Calling names isn't going to advance your argument.

Orbital models only have two variables when there are two bodies. In reality we are always dealing with an n-body problem. Regarding atmospheric models, we have weather, which is too chaotic to forecast, and climate, which should not be.

We could sit back 100 years and see what is happening then, so that we have lots of good data points, but potentially at the cost of widespread famine, death, etc.

We have excellent reasons to stop releasing sequestered carbon even if we ignore global warming.

Comment Re:Yeah! (Score 1) 514

If they can pull more people out of poverty, what the U.S. does won't matter to China and India because their domestic markets will be larger than the United States. Currently they have even worse social inequity than we do, and the poor performance of their own markets forces their own people to look elsewhere for work.

Comment Re:Yeah! (Score 1) 514

Yes, I'm also a solid Democrat. But this has been a long time coming and IMO it's even in line with Obama's recent agenda on the Middle Class! The problem with the guest worker programs is that they devalue the local workers by diluting the market for them. The effect is to create a sort of "disposable worker" from our own citizens.

Now, of course jobs can be sent overseas too, but if the alternatives are to have foreign workers work at home, or in the U.S., neither choice is a win for our own citizens.

It continues to seem silly to have such a thrust on STEM education in the U.S. when the job market for STEM workers consistently goes to overseas hires, whether they are here or in their home nations. We need to work on the job-export issue as well.

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