Death of a Religion...

Bret Stephens has a piece in today's Wall Street Journal talking about the death of a religion: anthropogenic global warming.  The intro:

How do religions die? Generally they don't, which probably explains why there's so little literature on the subject. Zoroastrianism, for instance, lost many of its sacred texts when Alexander sacked Persepolis in 330 B.C., and most Zoroastrians converted to Islam over 1,000 years ago. Yet today old Zoroaster still counts as many as 210,000 followers, including 11,000 in the U.S. Christopher Hitchens might say you can't kill what wasn't there to begin with.

Still, Zeus and Apollo are no longer with us, and neither are Odin and Thor. Among the secular gods, Marx is mostly dead and Freud is totally so. Something did away with them, and it's worth asking what.

Consider the case of global warming, another system of doomsaying prophecy and faith in things unseen.

As with religion, it is presided over by a caste of spectacularly unattractive people pretending to an obscure form of knowledge that promises to make the seas retreat and the winds abate. As with religion, it comes with an elaborate list of virtues, vices and indulgences. As with religion, its claims are often non-falsifiable, hence the convenience of the term "climate change" when thermometers don't oblige the expected trend lines. As with religion, it is harsh toward skeptics, heretics and other "deniers." And as with religion, it is susceptible to the earthly temptations of money, power, politics, arrogance and deceit.

Jet Man...

Awesome!

Georgie is Lost!

Georgie (photo at right, click to enlarge) was lost on Friday, near the intersection of Lyons Valley Road and Peg Leg Mine Road.  If you've seen him, please contact Bill (info below).  Here's all the information I have:

Here's the info on Georgie. Lost on Friday November 25th near Lyons Valley and Peg Leg Mine Road. Georgie is Shih tzu three years old, black and white, weighs approximately 15 pounds. Very friendly. Has a very distinct bark, sounds like a much larger dog. Call Bill with information (619) 922-0527.

Landslide on Vesta...

The Dawn robotic explorer is currently orbiting the asteroid Vesta, returning tons of science data and imagery.  At right (click to enlarge) is a section of Vesta's surface showing a large cliff (20 km/12 miles high) and what appear to be landslides.  Via APOD, of course...

A Three-Fer!

James Delingpole (one of my favorite commentators) has a piece about ClimateGate 2.0 (one of my favorite topics) in today's Wall Street Journal (one of my favorite periodicals).  It's a must read.  The money quote:

This is the real significance of the climategate emails. They show that major scientists who inform the IPCC can't be trusted to stick to the science and avoid political activism. This, in turn, has very worrying implications for the major international policy decisions adopted on the basis of their research.

Plant Photos...

This is new to me: a site with a large collection of plant photographs, many of excellent quality.  Of course it doesn't have all plants, but it does have thousands of them, very conveniently organized by plant species and by source...

Totally Awesome Roller Coaster...

It's in the Alps, dang it – otherwise I'd be on my way there for a ride!

JVM Programmer's Reading List...

A nice reading list for programmers who work with the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).  There were several on here new to me...

What Are Those Spots?

Via my mom, this shot of the Diga del Cingino dam in Northern Italy. See the little spots on it? Scroll down to see what they are...

Alpine Ibex!

Adele Vasquez and Her Band of Siblings...

I'd say these kids have a future in music.  Even if this song isn't your cup of tea, listen to this 10 year old belt out the refrain.  Awesome!

Mutually Beneficial Arrangements...

I just ran across an advertisement for this web site, which appears to be soliciting young women willing to have paid “relationships” with older men. The ad was on an otherwise completely respectable web site.  The text of the site isn't explicit, but seems pretty clear that the relationship includes (a) sex, and (b) money being paid to the woman. From the site:

When you date someone, if you find them attractive and have a good time with them, things naturally progress. This might happen in one date or it might take a couple, but the point is that this is what happens. Also, as you’re dating someone, you develop a relationship of sorts with them, so if you’re short on your rent, they help you out. If you’re struggling to pay for school, they help you out.

If the person you’re dating likes you and they have extra money, they buy you gifts. This, folks, is dating. So, then, wouldn’t all dating be mutually beneficial? Now, when you actually plan a mutually beneficial arrangement, you should know that you’re dating, but you’re kind of laying out the terms of dating. You want gifts, you make sure that the person you’re planning your arrangement with will want to give them to you.

I'm no lawyer, but that sure looks dangerously close to solicitation to me!

I'm way past being shocked (or even surprised) by this sort of activity.  Six years in the Navy, visiting practically every port in the Pacific and Indian Oceans (and a few others as well) cured me of any lingering innocence concerning the intersection of money and sex.  But I was surprised to see this ad on an otherwise fairly conservative and straight-laced site...

Quote of the Day...

From Clive Crook at The Atlantic, commenting on the ClimateGate 2.0 emails:

“The stink of intellectual corruption is overpowering.”

Cited in this article in the London Daily Mail.

Awesome.  This time, the lamestream media is paying attention...

Curiosity Ready To Go...

The Curiosity Mars Rover is on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, scheduled to lift off about an hour from this post...

Pelican Nebula...

The Pelican Nebula (IC 5070), seen with an amateur 17" telescope in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  From APOD, of course:

Ode to the Welfare State...

Note the date.  Via my mom:

ClimateGate 2.0: the Deluge...

Since the release of more than 5,000 additional “insider” emails two days ago, the blogosphere and (this time) the news media have gotten to work analyzing the trove.  It isn't pretty.  A summary from one news article (Forbes):

Three themes are emerging from the newly released emails: (1) prominent scientists central to the global warming debate are taking measures to conceal rather than disseminate underlying data and discussions; (2) these scientists view global warming as a political “cause” rather than a balanced scientific inquiry and (3) many of these scientists frankly admit to each other that much of the science is weak and dependent on deliberate manipulation of facts and data.

Ouch.  That's gotta hurt!

Some additional goodies:

Les Jones is amused.

A nice search engine to let you research the new trove.

One of the recent studies suggesting that the CO2 multiplier might not be quite as large as early “research” suggested.  

The scare quotes are there because both the older studies and the new studies are still based on computer models, not something quaint like, say, actual observation or repeatable experiments or proven causation.  Those notions are so 1980!

Lost Dog in Lawson Valley...

Neighbors of ours found this very friendly guy along Lawson Valley Road, between Montiel Truck Trail and Hilary Drive.  He's obviously well-taken care of – and he looks like he needs to be back home!

If he's your lost dog, or if you know who he belongs to, please drop me a line at slightlyloony@jamulblog.com.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

ClimateGate 2.0...

It looks like FOIA.org has done it again – releasing another set of emails between the various participants in the anthropogenic global warming crowd.  I've only read through a few that Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre have highlighted.  FOIA.org has the whole thing up in a searchable database.  FOIA.org has many megabytes more that they're not releasing yet (the file is there, but encrypted, so all they have to do is release a password to unleash them).  I'm not sure why FOIA.org is playing coy with them – they've made no demands that I'm aware of, so it doesn't appear to be a shakedown.

One thing I'm noticing already: two years ago when the original ClimateGate emails were released, the blogs jumped all over them right way, but the media studiously ignored them for months.  This time they're in the mainstream media right away.  Interesting...

OWS Solution...

Colleague and friend Doug S. passes along this solution to the Occupy Wall Street movement (non-embeddable video clip)...