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Comment Re:Works with coal too (Score 1) 174

Of course prior to becoming sequestered in said rock formations, the CO2 was part of the atmosphere. Must be something in the geological record of the massive runaway global warming that had to have occured before CO2 became coal and oil. Those conglomerate rocks couldn't have come from continental glaciers when CO2 was 10 times higher than today. Or would that too be "consistent with climate models"?

Comment Re:Propped Up Industry (Score 1) 410

Are you suggesting that Exxon Mobil gets more in subsidy than they pay in taxes? From the Exxon Mobil corporate documents (look it up if you think I made these up), and note that these are only sales taxes, not including corporate income tax, payroll taxes (in Canada, about 25% of the gross salary of an employee), royalties to the government of the country they produce in, income tax of employees, etc., etc.

(1) Sales and other operating revenue include sales-based taxes of $28,547 million for 2010, $25,936 million for 2009, $34,508 million for 2008, $31,728 for 2007, and $30,381 for 2006. (Sec 1:10, Summary Annual Report, 2010)

Total taxes paid in 2010 were about $86 BILLION. So you are saying that Exxon is paid more than $80 billion a year from the government? Shell, BP, Chevron and Total too? They pay similar taxes as Exxon. That is close to half a TRILLION dollars in taxes, every year, probably more when you add in the lessor companies.

What are you smoking?

Comment Re:yes but... (Score 1) 1251

You do realize that many of the data points used to produce the 'hockey stick' graph were withheld for extended periods don't you? The scientists involved actively refused to provide that data for quite some time. When the data was eventually revealed, it was reluctant at best. By your standards, Dr. Jones at East Anglia University, who refused to provide data, citing 'confidentiality agreements' that he also refused to provide should be ignored as a quack. There are copious other examples. Should we be ridiculing these people as quacks?

Comment Re:yes but... (Score 1) 1251

Is English your first language? Science does not need to be based on faith for people to have faith in science. Science is hard. Most people are not capable of undertaking even the simplest of scientific endeavours. Most people have to trust what a scientist says because they can't fully understand what they are saying. Trust without knowledge is faith. All moronic concepts I'm sure.

Comment Re:yes but... (Score 1) 1251

Nothing in my second paragraph is "anti-Global Warming". I can and have explained the greenhouse effect and the contribution of CO2 to that effect. I can and have explained why such distractions as the greater contribution of water are not relevant.

My point is that the serious allegations revealed by the e-mails have been covered up by those who should have been shining a light on them. And the entire "proxy" thing should drive any true scientist to distraction. Two things are alleged to reflect the same property. I.E. tree rings and other types of temperature record. For a statistically significant period, they do not agree, indeed, they diverge. I would posit that this is sufficient to conclude they do not reflect the same property. That is, the evidence as published supports the assertions that tree ring proxies are not suitable as a measure of temperature. The ongoing effort to support this distraction is offensive to me. It provides ammunition to all of the anti-science nutbars throughout the world and the longer we avoid acknowledging this, the worse it gets. Whether or not AGW is real and serious is not dependant on the hockey stick graph. Supporting that thing blindly is slowly and inexorably bringing all of science into disrepute.

Comment Re:yes but... (Score 1) 1251

Either you are misinformed or you are being disingenuous.

"Gene", i.e. Eugene Wahl has provided congressional testimony that he did indeed delete emails related to the inclusion of off the record, unpublished, unreviewed material to counter on the record, published and reviewed material in the IPCC AR4. It was not a fit of pique, but rather an acknowledged action carried out by a number of people.

Tree ring proxies do indeed agree with other proxy measurements at many times. As you point out yourself, they do NOT reflect other proxy measurements after 1960. This is also acknowledged by Trenberth et. al. Just because a measurement coincides with another measurement for a period of time does not mean it is a valid substitution. Indeed, being able to show a period when the two diverge is usually sufficient evidence that the two are not measuring the same thing.

The assertion that Jones could not provide data because it was "proprietary" is pernicious. You conflate this by alleging "private corporations". Neither is relevant. If the data is not released, it cannot be verified. As you clearly know, there is still data that has not been released.

Not sure what "ridiculous fairy tales" I believe in. I can perform radiant heat transfer calculations and have done so professionally. I can provide a pretty good explanation of the greenhouse effect. I can provide pretty good explanations about how the fact that water is the greater cause of the effect, this is not relevant to the argument that increasing CO2 increases absorption of heat. I can explain quantitatively how increasing heat will increase temperature. As a scientist, I am not in doubt about AGW. I am however appalled by the actions of these people and even more appalled that more scientists aren't raising their voices in anger.

Comment Re:yes but... (Score -1, Flamebait) 1251

The teaching of creationism is gaining credence because of the ongoing reduction in the trust in science. If you think this is funny, you don't realize how severe that erosion is. Bible thumpers tell us the earth is 6,000 years old. Idiots tell us that plate techtonics is wrong. Bimbos make life threatening, yet influential pronouncements on vaccination policy. The list of such moronic musings grows every day. Today, we have very large portions of the planet's population that strongly believe in many things that science has long ago shown to be bunk. Fundamentalist religious beliefs are not confined to the US or christianity.

A number of years ago, I noted here that, as scientists, we had better be right about global warming, because if we are wrong, science itself will suffer. Since that time, we have "scientists" destroying records of behaviour, lest they be "misconstrued", "scientists", with straight faces, saying that an instrument for recording temperature (tree rings) should be believed, even if they do not reflect temperature when calibrated (the divergence problem which is what "hide the decline" is all about). "Scientists" who regularly refuse to provide the basic data that they use to come to conclusions. Were these "scientists" employed as geophysicists for "big oil" in Canada, they would be breaking securities law that requires adherence to NI-43-101.

No wonder people are losing faith in science. Science has broken faith with us.

And that ain't funny.

Comment Re:Its not called gas but its called... (Score 2) 320

How about we call it food. Because that is what we are using to create this stuff. Sure, you can produce these things with waste, but corn is better and more efficient and hence much more profitable. As such, this will divert food from (literally) starving people to powering engines. Good luck identifying whether it is from corn or kelp. There is a perfectly good substitute for using food to create the fuel to power your car. It is called crude oil.

Cheers

JE

Comment Re:Talk about a vague patent... (Score 3, Interesting) 129

Henry Ford refused to pay George Seldon royalties for his patent for a "Road Engine". Up to that time, every car manufacturer in the United States paid Seldon a royalty. Seldon would today be called a patent troll. The only reason Ford won in court was the vehicle patented by Seldon did not function when finally built according to the idea that Seldon had patented. Had Seldon patented a "Thing with wheels on it and an engine" Ford probably would have lost.

Cheers

JE

Comment Re:If I had a $1 for every patent troll (Score 0) 129

Ideas aren't supposed to be patentable, specific inventions are...

Patents are words on paper. They are nothing more and nothing less than ideas. Specific inventions are manifestations of ideas. It is the idea that is patented, not the thing.

This patent was filed in 1996. This means it will expire in 2016. At that time, it will go into the public domain and be available for all to use as they see fit, free of charge. This is, in my opinion, superior to copyright. Copyright lasts forever (practically, if not literally). If Allen had copyright, rather than patent, the protection would last much longer. (An American law expert can confirm whether patent expiration timing starts from time of filing or time of grant).

Comment Re:Of course (Score 1) 945

Gov't regulating lead-free drinking water is not an attack on liberty.

This is a common conclusion based on the misconception that regulation of pollution is intended to reduce pollution.

The original purpose of discharge limit regulations was to provide permission to pollute. This was a substitute for property rights which were making it impossible for big government to pollute (via municipal sewage) and big business to pollute. So government reduced our liberty by reducing our property rights in order to facilitate pollution and commerce. So yes, regulating lead-free drinking water is an attack on liberty AND a means of increasing the amount of lead that can be discharged (there has never, in the history of the earth, been an untreated source of water that was or is 100% lead free, you just need a good enough analysis method to find it). The loss of liberty in western society has been a death by a thousand cuts. The efficacy of which are improved by propagandists who tell us that regulation is for our good, not theirs.

Comment Re:Raw data, or "adjusted"? (Score 1) 107

Sorry Mate. You're very wrong.

Statistics are "massaged". Data is data. I work in mining in Canada, like Steve McIntyre. In promoting a prospective mine in Canada, you are required to make everything available. The original notes written when a drill core comes up, the method used to split the core, the numbers from the ICP that are used to come up with an assay (including calibration and calculation methods). Everything. Even the remnant samples must be archived for potential independent verification. That is data. You also have to follow very specific methods of analyzing (massaging) that data. For reference to all of this, google: NI43-101. That climate scientists can't follow procedures that moose pasture salesmen must follow speaks volumes. Also, I'm not sure what labs you work in, but I work with raw data all the time. Particularly when initiating a QA program. Those start with raw data.

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