Postcards from La La Land #132: time warps and twaddle
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
I don’t wander over to the dark side1 very often – NZ’s climate cranks are an unedifying bunch at the best of times – but I was somewhat surprised to find myself featuring in their current top story — National Geographic ignores the need for evidence. Not that they know it’s me – the level of scholarship on display is even worse than that in their sole contribution to the scientific literature. The author, blog owner Richard Treadgold, allows himself a little rant about a paragraph he says comes from a recent National Geographic newsletter, illustrated with a picture he claims comes from NIWA ..read more
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The final cut: crank paper on NZ temperature record gets its rebuttal – warming continues unabated
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
Way back in the spring of 2014, NZ’s little band of climate cranks somehow managed to get a paper published based on their recalculation of New Zealand’s long term temperature record1. The effort – based on calculations done to support their infamous court case against the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), which they emphatically lost – purported to show that New Zealand’s long term warming rate was only a third of the amount previously calculated. As I pointed out at the time, it was riddled with errors and bad scholarship, but it appeared in the peer-reviewed liter ..read more
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Anthropogenic climate change is real: pithy post-punk anthem for the Trump generation
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
In which a “protest post-punk band” from Oakland, California (since punk happened in the late 70s, a pedant would point out that everything since has been post-punk) called You Can’t Make This Shit Up Amerika expresses a certain pithy frustration with the views of their President. I’d have to say it’s hard to disagree. It would be only fitting if this became the Christmas number one ..read more
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Why (and how) cheaper solar power, batteries, electric and autonomous vehicles are going to change our world over the next 5 years
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
This will be the best hour you’ll spend in front of a screen this week, I promise. Tony Seba explains how the plunging costs of battery storage and solar power generation, coupled with the rise of electric vehicles and autonomous driving technologies are going to first disrupt and then transform both the transport and power industries worldwide, and very, very soon. Watch this, and then ask yourself why this isn’t being reflected in the policy discussion in this NZ election. Why are we not encouraging rooftop solar? Why are we still building motorways? Drilling for oil? The timeline on this s ..read more
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At last it can be revealed: climate change researcher describes challenge of pulling off worldwide global warming conspiracy
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
Courtesy of those fine satirists at The Onion, a climate researcher explains the reality of the global climate conspiracy. Meanwhile, in denialdom, Irma threatens worldviews, The Onion reports: Taking all necessary measures to reinforce his cherished beliefs ahead of the impending storm, local climate change denier Michael Dunn reportedly spent Friday battening down his worldview to help weather Hurricane Irma. “This could be the big one that completely destroys my position that climate change is a government conspiracy.” If you want to follow events in Florida and the Caribbean, I strongly ..read more
Visit website
Postcards from La La Land #132: time warps and twaddle
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
I don’t wander over to the dark side1 very often – NZ’s climate cranks are an unedifying bunch at the best of times – but I was somewhat surprised to find myself featuring in their current top story — National Geographic ignores the need for evidence. Not that they know it’s me – the level of scholarship on display is even worse than that in their sole contribution to the scientific literature. The author, blog owner Richard Treadgold, allows himself a little rant about a paragraph he says comes from a recent National Geographic newsletter, illustrated with a picture he claims comes from NIWA ..read more
Visit website
The final cut: crank paper on NZ temperature record gets its rebuttal – warming continues unabated
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
Way back in the spring of 2014, NZ’s little band of climate cranks somehow managed to get a paper published based on their recalculation of New Zealand’s long term temperature record1. The effort – based on calculations done to support their infamous court case against the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), which they emphatically lost – purported to show that New Zealand’s long term warming rate was only a third of the amount previously calculated. As I pointed out at the time, it was riddled with errors and bad scholarship, but it appeared in the peer-reviewed liter ..read more
Visit website
Anthropogenic climate change is real: pithy post-punk anthem for the Trump generation
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
In which a “protest post-punk band” from Oakland, California (since punk happened in the late 70s, a pedant would point out that everything since has been post-punk) called You Can’t Make This Shit Up Amerika expresses a certain pithy frustration with the views of their President. I’d have to say it’s hard to disagree. It would be only fitting if this became the Christmas number one ..read more
Visit website
Why (and how) cheaper solar power, batteries, electric and autonomous vehicles are going to change our world over the next 5 years
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
This will be the best hour you’ll spend in front of a screen this week, I promise. Tony Seba explains how the plunging costs of battery storage and solar power generation, coupled with the rise of electric vehicles and autonomous driving technologies are going to first disrupt and then transform both the transport and power industries worldwide, and very, very soon. Watch this, and then ask yourself why this isn’t being reflected in the policy discussion in this NZ election. Why are we not encouraging rooftop solar? Why are we still building motorways? Drilling for oil? The timeline on this s ..read more
Visit website
At last it can be revealed: climate change researcher describes challenge of pulling off worldwide global warming conspiracy
Hot Topic
by Gareth
3y ago
Courtesy of those fine satirists at The Onion, a climate researcher explains the reality of the global climate conspiracy. Meanwhile, in denialdom, Irma threatens worldviews, The Onion reports: Taking all necessary measures to reinforce his cherished beliefs ahead of the impending storm, local climate change denier Michael Dunn reportedly spent Friday battening down his worldview to help weather Hurricane Irma. “This could be the big one that completely destroys my position that climate change is a government conspiracy.” If you want to follow events in Florida and the Caribbean, I strongly ..read more
Visit website

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