- A new paper debunks Michael Mann’s Hockey Stick global temperature graph. “Climate scientists have greatly underestimated the uncertainty of proxy-based reconstructions and hence have been overconfident in their models.” Very well written.
- “Obscure, contemporary ethics books . . . were actually about 50% more likely to be missing than non-ethics books.” Paper. The study was done entirely online and covered 32 large university libraries.
- Gladys Reid, Australian discoverer of benefits of feeding zinc to farm animals. “Reid was reluctant to make direct dose recommendations after claiming the Director General of Agriculture had told her she would be taken to court for misleading practices if she did. However she won followers from farming wives in particular. Many would call asking for zinc advice after tiring of seeing suffering livestock and husbands on the brink of suicide from crippling stock and production losses.”
- Using a treadmill while working
- The Potti Scandal continues
- How loud are Sunchips?
Thanks to Don Sheridan and Melissa Francis.
Yes, it seems well written. However, I would not describe it as “debunking”.
From the paper:
“Natural climate variability is not well understood and is probably quite
large. It is not clear that the proxies currently used to predict temperature
are even predictive of it at the scale of several decades let alone over many
centuries. Nonetheless, paleoclimatoligical reconstructions constitute only
one source of evidence in the AGW debate.
Our work stands entirely on the shoulders of those environmental scientists
who labored untold years to assemble the vast network of natural
proxies. Although we assume the reliability of their data for our purposes
here, there still remains a considerable number of outstanding questions
that can only be answered with a free and open inquiry and a great deal of
replication.”
Have always liked to pace up and down when thinking – I think this is a more natural, varied way to body-think (sometimes, when no one is looking, I sort of dance), but I suppose an office environment has to be more controlled and one has to be near one’s working materials, keyboard etc.
In ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ the farmers always squat down together and doodle in the dust with sticks when having a confab. I think if you are forced to think while stock still and suppressing the body you might get more rigid and dumb over time.