Harold Hill Science

Our friend Learner directs everyone`s attention to the Australian, where the Global Warming hysteria is in high gear:

First, we encounter a story making the dire prediction that Britain will be ``crippled`` by excessive heat waves and floods in the next century based on a computer experiment. Anyone interested was asked to download a program into their home pc`s to network into a ``supercomputer``. This network then ran climate simulations to ``prove`` that the end is nigh! Of course, it does not matter how big your computer network is; a computer is a tool which serves the data which is entered. Climatology is woefully bereft of a solid understanding of the forces which influence the Earth, and inadequate data programmed into the system with a biased model will give results at odds with reality. I have little doubt that CO2 was given a high value in terms of effecting temperatures in this model, and that other factors such as cosmic rays, planetary motion, solar radiance, etc. have been downplayed. One would be disturbed if this ``supercomputer`` gave anything other than dire warnings because it would mean it failed to function as it was programmed.

The point of all this is not science, but manipulation of the public perception of the issue; they got ``the average joe`` into the act by downloading a program (a symbolic act intended to recruit in a manner similar to a religious sacrament-liberals always use this trick), they tell people they have a ``supercomputer`` thus playing to superstitions about the technology. If a computer says it, it must be true!

Another piece at the Australian was about the resetting of the infamous ``Doomsday Clock`` kept by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to warn Mankind that we are all, well, doomed! The BAS has kept this thing going since 1947, and moves the hands towards or away from midnight as the political situation warrants (from their perspective). Generally, heightened tensions during the Cold War, or any success by the United States advanced the hands, while any lessening of tensions, or victories by the Soviet Union, receded them. (The BAS(tards) have always been left-leaning.) Now, to keep the clock relevant, our friends, the ``concerned scientists`` have taken to using Global Warming as a new harbinger of doom, and have once again moved the hands to 11:55 p.m.

Had these guys (Stephen Hawking among them) been content to advance the clock because of the dangers of terrorists obtaining nuclear weapons from rogue states like North Korea, Pakistan, and (in the near future) Iran, had they worried about biological weapons in a world at war, I would have agreed with them. In fact, I would suggest they move it to 11:58 given the circumstances. But to tack Global Warming onto this? If we were to concede the issue in it`s entirety, we would still have to agree that this is a long-range problem with minimal impact on the survival of the human species. At worse, we will see a minor rise in sea level, changes in storm patterns, the tropics move a few miles north and south, while the temperate zones do likewise, and some desertification while less hospitable regions blossom. That is worst-case scenario, mind you! Al Gore and company may try to frighten people with visions of rising floodwaters, pestilence, famine and the like, but no credible models suggest anything of the sort. (Oh, and try using a little DDT if you`re worried about malaria, Al!)

This article loses all credibility with this statement;

``Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking was among the Nobel laureates behind the warning, which cited North Korea and Iran as particular reasons increasing the danger of a nuclear winter. ``

Nuclear Winter has been shown to be a crock. Originally devised by left leaning scientists such as Carl Sagan, it was a tool to advance the nuclear freeze movement during the `80`s and was soundly rebutted as a scientific theory. Of course, this whole thing is not about science, so any dubious exploded theories which will help scare the public can be used.

Let`s face it, folks; Global Warming is a medicine show. Grandpa Ira`s hair tonic and youth elixer, anyone? Yes, we have trouble, folks, right here in River City, with a capital T and that rhymes with G and that stands for Global Warming!

Harold Hill would be proud.