Bronwen O’Shea, ABC
UPDATED: Correction. The interview was done by a fan of John Cook, not John Cook. Notes in the post and apologies. – Jo
Hm, curious event on the ABC today. Credit to Bronwen O’Shea, host of the ABC morning radio program for the Goulburn Murray, for asking both Jennifer Marohasy and the BOM to discuss the Rutherglen temperature adjustments. Good-o, I say — public debate and answers! (Note that link is just to their website, I have not found a copy of the interview or transcript).
But everything worked against the ABC. First the BOM chose not to even try to answer. (Hm?) Then not long after the interview started, the line suddenly went dead and Marohasy was abruptly cut off. She waited for the call back, but it never came. What bad luck eh? Even more unlucky — when the ABC tried to call her back they got a fan of John Cook on the phone instead*. Then, things got even worse for poor ABC listeners — because the fan of Cook mistakenly thought Rutherglen was different to the surrounding stations, but the BOM raw records say otherwise (see the graph below). UPDATED: Apologies to John Cook from Jen and myself for the error. If he wants to explain his views on the BOM and homogenization, I’m happy to post them here. – Jo
I’m sure the ABC wouldn’t want to mislead its listeners and hide serious questions about the BOM’s record of our temperatures. They are concerned about climate change after all, so for the sake of the environment I expect they’ll ask Marohasy back on to finish her points and explain why the talkback caller was wrong. [We are trying to get a transcript or copy of the interview. The ABC said they are unable to supply one.]
Details follow…
Doesn’t the BOM want to defend these attacks on ACORN (their new temperature record)?
Strangely, the BOM said “no thanks” to the chance to answer Marohasy’s points on air. Their homogenization process transformed a 0.35C cooling trend as read by the actual thermometer at Rutherglen into 1.73 C of warming — a very strange and large adjustment to what appears to be one of the few ideal and long rural temperature records in Australia. If the BOM had good reasons for making that remarkable adjustment, you would think they would be keen to explain that, and put an end to speculation and questions about the validity of it. Perhaps they were busy?
Previously the BOM had said that comparisons with neighboring thermometers was “consistent” with a site move, but then Bill Johnston, who had worked there, came forward to say the Rutherglen station had not moved at all. Perhaps the BOM realized that nothing they can they say justifies the almost 2 degree C adjustments to what thermometers recorded 100 years ago?
Jen Marohasy explains the ABC of Rutherglen on her blog:
Bronwen began the interview by suggesting that Bureau have only tweaked the figures for Rutherglen. I disagreed. I explained that the Bureau has actually completely trashed the temperature record by changing what had been a slight cooling trend into warming of 1.73 degree C for the last 100 years. I also explained that this had been achieved by progressively dropping down the original temperatures from 1973.
But then the line cut out.
I wanted to explain that the largest change was back in 1913, with the difference between the actual recorded temperature, and the new official temperature a massive 1.8 degree C.
I was cut-off, before I got to explain too much.
I waited, assuming the line had dropped out. But after no one phoned me back I rang back myself. I phoned ABC Goulburn Murray and was put on hold. Guess whom Bronwen was now interviewing?
Answer: the infamous John Cook, a faux sceptic from the University of Queensland.
Mr Cook was telling Bronwen that the temperature record for Rutherglen had to be corrected because it was different from everywhere else.
We’re looking forward to seeing John Cook explain that the scientific reasons for the temperature adjustments on his blog. Both Ken Stewart and Jen Marohasy have looked at nearby stations and the whole area shows a slight cooling trend of the mimima.
Rutherglen matches its neighbors without adjustments
Ken Stewart graphed the five near neighbors and found the average of the area was a cooling trend that matched Rutherglen rather well without any adjustment. The stations graphed here are Deniliquin, Wagga Wagga, Sale, Kerang, Cabramurra.
The raw data is “consistent” with Rutherglen needing no adjustments.
Jennifer Marohasy has also put up a page on Rutherglen.
Don’t give Bronwyn too hard a time in comments. She looks quite young.
* UPDATED — Apparently the caller was someone called David from Sandy Creek (or something like that) who was quoting John Cook or John Cook’s site skepticalscience rather than John Cook himself. I’ve bolded the edits.
I doubt it as [snip] it is pretty hard to defend
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The “predictive power” of “globalised environmental science” and “progressive Enlightenment liberalism”. The Plan is partly based on “(i) the belief in the ‘end of history’” ref. http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/299/pdf
It’s sickening the whole farce. And ABC so on the scheme?
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Oh dear!!!
That’s the last we’ll hear of Bronwen O’Shea.
It’ll be off to the gulag for her. The ABC can’t allow one of their own NOT to follow the meme!!
How dare she try and interview someone who’s exposed the BOM and their UNSCIENTIFIC methods.
Cheers,
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What’s the betting her supervisor heard what was being said and pulled the plug because he knows that the ABC does not give any airtime to scientists who do not comply with the ABC’s green-left mantra.
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Isn’t it sad that we now believe your “guess” as to what happened has a more than significant chance of being correct. That’s what happens when the vast majority of the “news” media have tossed every shred of neutrality into the toilet and become propagandists.
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[SNIP. Post updated. T’was not John Cook, but a caller ringing in citing his site. – Jo]
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So, what’s the scenario?
The number of staff in an ABC regional office in the mid morning period would be probably only 3 or 4 or less. They work daily with this presenter, and might have had prior knowledge of the impending interview. It seems to me unlikely that this interruption would have come from “in house”.
So, it would seem that some listener has telephoned somebody in a higher place in the ABC, who immediately contacted the ABC’s regional office, demanded that JM be taken off immediately, and provided JC’s contact details to resume the program with.
Hope this is examined closely.
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Well, if it wasn’t John Cook, that still doesn’t explain how the line switched to a “fan” of John Cook. I still want that question answered.
Maybe somebody “in house” was involved after all.
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Fat chance of finding what really happened. Even if… it will be buried!
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This would be a great time for Jo to interview Bronwen O’Shea and get her side of it. The poor girl will probably be under surveilance from now on anyway.
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Maybe O’Shea will look for an honest job, instead of hanging around with the crooks at the ABC who will now run her out.
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Good idea Davet916. At the very least it will show up the ABC if Bronwen is not allowed to speak to Jo.
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Jo is right, we shouldn’t give Bronwen a hard time.
The plug would have been pulled by the Producer (the person who sits in the glass box and fiddles with the knobs and sliders), who obviously panicked when the interview, based on the Producer’s questions, did not go according to plan.
[SNIP. Post updated. – Jo]
PS: Could have been an accident, though I suspect if the phone cut out on Tim Flannery, they would be calling back asap…J
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In a rural ABC radio station, it would be very unlikely that a local staff member would do this unless orders were received from above to do it. So far as I know, these stations operate on barebones staffing.
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She is listed as a producer on her Twitter account.
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Well I can tell you that the Goulburn Murray regional ABC is probably the Albury/Wodonga studio.
The local rag is the B**der M*il ( a less-than-f*ir fax rag ) and I do know that the border mail seems to have quite a decent left-green leaning. People joke it cant go around right hand turns….
There is always a convenient never ending supply of people to write pro-CAGW “letters” to the editor as needed, when a contention situation arises – the usual predicatble thunderous quasi-religious “CAGW can do no wrong” tone usually ensues in said letters.
Even in regional areas, there has been a lot of energy spent to make sure the lcoals are thoroughly force fed on “approved” pro-CAGW propaganda….
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You are wrong, this is a set up. Probably you may check it by asking BOM if they was invited at all. If not I would say this reporter wanted a star in her book, maybe a raise or whatever. [SNIP. New info, was not Cook – Jo]
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Wangaratta.. That’s not far away.. How does it fare under the BOM crusher ?
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Wang’s not far away but Sale is (Gippsland coast) as is as is Cabramurra(mountains)so Ken Stewart should not be including them in any comparison with Rutherglen. That’s only giving credence to the BOM’s crazy homogenization of unlike stations.
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Proximity and variation are the parameters. Difference in geography does not change that. Unless you want a “homogenised” result.
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Would some locals please approach ABC Radio at Wodonga and try to find out just what did happen.
I wouldn’t like to be hanging by the thumbs waiting for an honest reply, but if you don’t try you won’t get anything.
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Jo
They’ve taken the link off the ABC website
Your link in the first line is gone
“host of the ABC morning radio program for…” All blooody disappeared from record?
This is their website for Thursday ABC Goulburn Valley
[Snip speculation – Jo]
It’s going to get worse. the CAGW crew are desperate now
NO HOLDS BARRED
The big fight starts NOW
I’m talking to everyone that I deal with and talk about this garbage
Times will change soon
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No Dave, there wasn’t an interview at it — I was hoping there was a transcript, but no luck. That was all I could find, so I put in the link.
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I just listened to 15 minutes of fluff from “Don’t give Bronwyn too hard a time in comments. She looks quite young” and “futurologist ?? Barber”.
What happened to the Jennifer Marohasy interview?
Was the link incorrect or is the ABC covering up!
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Sorry Peter, if you can find a copy or a transcript that would be great. I can’t. I spoke to Jennifer on the phone. I don’t know the regional ABC puts up all it’s interviews.
I shall add a note to save people listening to it. Apologies – JO
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If only Jen had thought to get a recording of her interview for posterity, like Jo & David did with Anna Rose & crew. Who’d have imagined eh, that the ABC would just lose it?
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Speedy,
We need a John and Brian on this fiasco …
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Will this do instead?
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Not what I was hoping for, but it only took 2:30! And it is quite funny.
My favorite line “I think all you scientists are CRACKPOTS”.
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Anthony Albanese today on why the Government has not yet funded Cadbury in Tasmania and what might motivate them to do so….
“Labor’s Anthony Albanese said the Assistant Minister for Trade told Parliament in April this year that a strong case had been made.
“At the same time the department was saying ‘well, we’d better sort this out before the ABC asks the ministerial office, what information?’ Because at that time, as it is still, Cadbury was yet to provide a business case for this proposal,” he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-28/no-business-case-made-for-federal-cadbury-grant-says-albanese/5702360
But of course suggesting the ABC is a mere mouthpiece of left/green politics is nonsense right?
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Now waiting for the Lefists to argue that if the Liberals don’t subsidise Cadburys then that’s effectively the same as raising a chocolate tax.
Of course the need to subsidise Cadbury is abundantly clear. In an effort to keep chocolate selling despite rising costs of cocoa supply and regulatory compliance, Cadbury have been cutting back on quality. The chocolate is now lighter in colour and has far less impact. Ninety-seven percent of confectionery scientists agree that the evidence that Chocolate Change is real and is man-made is overwhelming! When will this government stop giving credence to the outdated views of chocolate change deniers and start serious subsidies to boost industrial cocoa emissions and bring cocoa levels back above 360000ppm? I don’t know about you guys but when my chocolate’s cocoa levels drop below 180000ppm my net primary productivity completely shuts down.
Now I don’t want to alarm anyone, but… if there is not concerted international action to fight chocolate change immediately we may even face a global economic slowdown on this Friday afternoon.
Think of the children!
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Beware the true enemy, Chocolate Orange Squares or CO2!
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Cadbury were suffering from Chocolate Change years ago…give me G and B any time.
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Cadbury of course being a contributor to Halal Certification with a tax paid to Muslim “authorities” and paid by consumers of all faiths.
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A tax? Taxes are levied by governments!
Protection money more like it.
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Poor Bronwyn, who seems to be a sensible sort of citizen, will probably be hung, drawn and homogenised by her bosses for even daring to think that BOM could be delivering propaganda rather than science.
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How dare the climate be different in different locations! Scandalous!!!
670
Moreover, when is the one BOM’s ‘one thermometer’ policy coming into effect?
Obviously if temperature is the same ‘everywhere’ multiple thermometers just add to the ‘noise’.
We can have one thermometer and then just add appropriate ‘adjustments’ according to circumstances.
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I’m putting bets on the Darwin area for that thermometer location (unless there’s a populated area with a higher average temp.) Less “homogenization” required to get things to match the GCM’s.
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I am betting that they introduce the concept of a virtual thermometer that can “measure” the temperature at whatever location just happens to be the best for their purposes, at the time.
It will, of course, be based on cloud technology.
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Cloud Cuckoo Land muttered my OH.
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You’re right Rereke, why use a real thermometer when you can model one.
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I think that my backyard is perfect for such an installation. I presume that there is a Government grant, say $10mil, a long term study, say another$20mil. and then the installation, dedication, presentation and inaguration ceremonies, say another $10mil.?
Happy to be of help..
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Will the BOM now justify remodelling the temperature data for Rutherglen’s neighbours by citing the inhomogenieties with the remodelled Rutherglen data?
[I bet they are kicking themselves for not thinking of that! 🙂 – Mod]
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It has crossed my mind that that may actually be happening.
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The Age of Unenlightenment. One way or another, no platform for heretics.
http://thepointman.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/the-age-of-unenlightenment/
Pointman
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About a decade ago I coined a phrase for this era – “The age of voodoo and prudery”.
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Apart from the tangled web of [snip – I know its tempting, lets stick to what we can substantiate – Jo] which has become all too apparent (hats off you guys, Jo and Jen) it’s bad science to adjust station data based on differences which can be for a host of reasons as demonstrated in this graphic.
https://climatefraudwatcher.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/urbanheat1.jpg
btw, check spelling on last line of article.
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At lest Your ABC can say they tried to talk to Jennifer Marohasy about it. Tried been the key word before they had to adjust it so no one could hear her. Adjust it [SNIP post updated] and not a Jennifer so everything’s back and right in their little green world. Well I’ve all ready email links to story to local newspaper in the Rutherglen area and to Andrew Bolts show on Sunday suggesting there a story in it for them. Ill like to see the ABC Adjustment Bureau Adjust that! Please if everyone can pester the media about it and the politicians about to maybe we can get something done to the Bureau of Meteorology about it. Lets adjust them out of a job or adjust them out of funding, sound good to me.
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Email Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt about this topic at greg.hunt.mp@environment.gov.au or phone his office. I think that’s his up in Canberra as parliament is currently sitting. I have personal spoken to this man before and he dose listen to you and read what you email him just remember that his very busy currently.
Phone: 03-5979 3188
Also your local state and federal members to.
Also please email your local newspapers and TV, radio stations and ask them the give Dr Jennifer Marohasy a call about it. Please include links to her site and Jo’s, this topic at both Jo’s and Jennifer’s site and her contact number. It helps them to know who to call.
Act now if you want something done about THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU at Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) . If we email enough of them they will have to do some to stop us pestering them.
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The ABC likes to highlight pedophilia where-ever it sees it.
22/8/2014: Germany’s Green Party Sets Up Hotline…For “Sexual Violence Victims” Of Its “Staunch” 1980s Pedophilia Rights Advocacy
The German Greens have scrambled to keep an embarrassing reality under the carpet of history, away from the public’s view.
That notorious chapter is their once strident advocacy for the legalization of pedophilia, see background here.
http://notrickszone.com/2014/08/22/germanys-green-party-sets-up-hotline-for-sexual-violence-victims-of-its-staunch-1980s-pedophilia-rights-advocacy/
An Early History Of The Australian Greens
“In 1984 the fiery parliamentarian and champion of the West German Greens, Petra Kelly, made her second visit to Australia.
She urged that the various Greens in Australia develop a national identity.”
http://australianpolitics.com/1999/01/01/an-early-history-of-the-greens.html
. . .
Just saying …
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Ahh the old BBC/ABC child love thing.How noble;how exalted and pure is the sexual love of a child.Pedophilia still exists in our national broadcaster.
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Poor cadet Bronwen probably thought it was just interesting local news for a cold winter at Rutherglen. So who pulled the plug?
Of course this would have nothing to do with the obvious fact that Rutherglen is cooling 16x as fast as its neighbours? Homogenize that. Faux sceptics can argue faux warming through with faux scientists like Tim Flannery on their ABC. Regardless, soon there will be a hiatus in funding. Every effort must be made to prevent an actual decrease. In temperature.
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Please go easy on Bronwen – she was young and naïve at the time!!!!
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When Joh Bjelke-Petersen made his push for Canberra, the pols were giving him something like 30% support.
On at least two occasions when prime time TV programs cut to a personal interview with Joh, the lines were cut. Somebody, probably though not certainly in Telecom, was determined that Joh should not be heard.
This calls for an inquiry. This time there seems little doubt that the ABC is wholly guilty.
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For starters with all matters aside, how fu#$ing RUDE!
Secondly seeing as both the ABC and the BOM are publically funded and a taxpayer asks a genuinely concerned question in a professional capacity, shouldn’t that question be addressed?
Seriously this is getting beyond a bloody joke, if anyone has the ear of a member in the LNP then tell them that the natives are getting very fu$%ing restless.
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Many would testify to the standard reply I received when I dared to criticise an antagonistic and rude reporter abusing Bob Carter in an ‘interview’.
Paraphrased, the reply was like: “We find you don’t have a case, but feel free to pursue your own legal action.”
At my own expense I guess. Yeah – sure I will.
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The BoM had 1418 measuring stations which they cut down to 224 in 1996. Last year they cut it to 112.
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Janama
Has anyone analysed the stations they removed? I wonder if the ones they left in are the ones which show some kind of a warming trend and if the removed ones were the cooler (or cooling) stations?
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Who needs an official
weatherpropaganda bureau when you can create your own worldwide datasets http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/about.asp yes simply buy and operate your own personal weather station so you too can add more confusion and corrupt data for UN CAGW alarmist claims.70
Having a browse I’m amazed at the amount of private global weather stations giving out reports including one locally right in town I never knew about http://ballaratweather.com.au/ also found this one CWOP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Weather_Observer_Program when trying to find the location of the Stevenson Screen at the Aerodrome, it seems they had trouble locating it also.
Found out our local Observatory http://observatory.ballarat.net/ had a Stevenson screen on site https://bih.federation.edu.au/index.php/Ballarat_Observatory there’s some great historic photos around, I think I’ll do some research.
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That is too true… don’t trust them. Most of July and August we got hammered with rain every afternoon. Pastures flooded and ditches full. Florida summer storms typically drop around 2cm to 4cm along their tracks per day and some days are triple that. I looked at the two sites closest to me (both within 3km) on wunderground and they showed “trace” rainfall for weeks on end including a day that dropped 10cm+ on us. Radar showed both those “stations” under that same storm… they showed trace rainfall and no temp drops.
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Actually, this is a very good idea. What is needed for it to be useful is standardised equipment, which Wunderground may be doing anyway.
The BOM should engage in a program like this, setting a standard for equipment to comply with. With computers to manage the data, you can’t have too much data.
It appears that suitable equipment may be available which could be set up for a cost of no more than $2,000 per unit, perhaps a lot less. I am sure that many private individuals and organisations would be keen to join a program at that cost, and it might be that it could be done at a lower cost.
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Its all very 1984 but 30 years late. There must have been a hiatus or something.
Meanwhile down in Tassie, spring has sprung with blossoms on my apple trees and more to come. Ms Marohasy’s expose is also like a blossoming of reality, an antipodean O Hanami.
I might crack the sake open this weekend and drink to the good health of the BOM cos they sound a bit sick at the moment and methinks their reputation has cancer.
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The reduction in the number of BOM stations must be an enormous cost saving – less sets of data to homogenise!!!!!!
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Are you serious? All of Australia is represented by 112 stations?
You’d think the homogenising would be quite easy with a small number like this. Ignoring the mountain range thingy, or the desert in the middle of course.
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Strikes me the ABC is barely even trying to mask its bias now. This is so unbelievably blatant that it should be obvious to everyone. They invite Jennifer and then after one question switch to [a fan of] (skeptical science). [SNIP post updated]
They must be very seriously rattled to descend to these depths. Surely people must be starting to notice, we need to give their actions the widest possible publicity to help the realisation along.
The good news is that its tandamount to an admission of guilt – an admission that there really is something dirty to hide. Lets hope their actions backfire big time.
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Hats off to everyone fighting the good fight, but If they can evade all those Climategate ‘enquiries’, unfortunately I can’t see this one going anywhere.
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In the UK the BBC editorial politburo tries to enforce its “position” on Climate Change, but its a very large organisation with a wide variety of employees, and cracks often appear in the facade. I get the impression that the radio people are the most rebellious and free thinking. For example, Judith Curry had two fairly recent interviews on BBC radio, and Peter Lilley (sceptic Tory MP) was a guest editor on a politics programme, and was allowed free reign to express his views on CC.
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Their bias isn’t without basis.
Look where their pension funds are invested.
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Rein is better than reign for pedants.
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Depend what part of Spain ?
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More like; anywhere BUT Spain, surely.
Bahamas come to mind.
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This doesn’t surprise me at all.
I attended a rally in Adelaide, Jan. 2012, concerning the outrageous SA wind “farm” legislation (turbines 1 km from residences, etc). The ABC turned up just after the gathering closed. When asked why, the film crew said they’d been contacted and told the rally was off. Sure.
Later, in November 2012, I was at another protest meeting in Canberra. The ABC turned up ..you’ve guessed it..after the meeting had finished. Excuses again.
Australians pay these people to report; they eagerly seize the money but that’s where it ends. Totally untrustworthy.
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[snip — post updated]
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Useful Idiot.
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Their ABC proves their balance / right wing bias. Putting on a speaker contradicting the CAGW meme is positively Murdochian of them. Just watch them cite this interview as proof.
Is everyone going to complain to them about pulling the plug on an interview? And maybe refer [Skeptical Science] to the Fact Checking unit to debunk his claims? That would be the ultimate humiation for him.
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The cut off was probably pre arranged, i doubt that Ms Oshea was unknowing of events. it is typical of alarmists to see no problem in this sort of rudeness because sceptics have been dehumanised for quite some time now.
We should expect this situation to continue and get worse, not better. eg this reporter could have been trying to score brownie points with the boss by setting this up.
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Actually, if it was not a setup they would have called back, at least to apologize. No ? So I vote to give that reporter a hard time.
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My guess is that it was last-minute damage control. Being true believers, they probably were expecting the BoM to be there and to demolish Dr. Marohasy. When they realised it was all going pear shaped, they pull the plug.
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[snip – due to update]
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[snip]
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Well, they would have asked the BOM, who have referenced SkepticalScience as a suitable website in a reply to Dr Marohasy earlier this year. I kid you not.
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that would explain a lot . it is as reliable a source as wikipedia post connelley.
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I think that the critical thing is as the global warming trend over the past century is less than a degree Celsius very small artificial changes to data, such as Rutherglen, will corrupt the result, simply because Australian data provide input from the southern hemisphere. It appears that so many people have invested in the AGW hypothesis you cannot accept the authority of these government bodies at face value as they all seem to have some political agendum
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[snip]
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Great work by Jennifer and the rest of you guys. More warmists on the run – beautiful. They can run but they cannot hide the data for ever.
Love from your pals up here in the UK. x
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In sport, the distinction between amateur and professional used to be that the professionals were paid to play, but the amateurs played ‘for the love of it’ (which is close to the real meaning) and for free. Pretty much what happens in climate science- except the ‘professionals’ are starting to look decidedly amateurish in how they respond to us, the ‘amateurs’. That includes the ABC.
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Jo,
This is up at Steve Goddard’s
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/08/28/understanding-mann-made-climate-change/#comments
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Jo,
Maybe a start for “ground rules for ABC audiences”?
“Don’t Believe Anything The EPA Says Unless It is Under Oath”
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2014/08/dont-believe-anything-the-epa-says-unless-it-is-under-oath.html
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Bronwen O’Shea,
It is acceptable blog etiquette to post a short note here to expain what you can from your position of involvement.
In the longer term, such actions tend to enhance and help define your character and the ways that others view it.
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It seems they always tell the world what they’re all about by what they do. I just wish more people could recognize the “body language”.
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OT but not entirely. The weakling and gnashing of teeth from those who would benefit from a further $22 Billion in cross subsidies from the RET if retained is evident everywhere. The bias of the ABC is clear.
At another level, Andrew suggests it is driven by panic
It’s on folks, time to break out the popcorn and watch as the alarmist dogmas are consigned to the scrapheap of fraud and untruth! For some comic relief take a look at Portraits of Scared Scientists Seek(ing) to Drive Home the Critical State of Climate Change…
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The only thing “public” about the ABC is its funding.
It must STOP.
The time is overdue to bombard Turnbull and Abbott.
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Prominent write up in the Australian this morning. Page 3. Excellent.
There is Jo’s detested appeal to authority in its purest form
“Homogenization is carried out by meteorological authorities around the world as best practice to ensure that climate data is consistent through time”.
“also consistent with those other leading international meteorological authorities such as NOAA and NASA in the US and the UK Met-Office”
“methods had been published in peer reviewed international journals but did not say where or in what form”
and all of Jennifer’s plain English objections to this whitewash. Show us the data! In fact, why shouldn’t the BOM just show the unadjusted, untruncated, unedited, unhomogenized summary graph first and demonstrate why it so desperately needs adjustment. Why should someone else have to do their job for them? They are paid to do this. All this talk about algorithms and protocols. How hard is an average? What part of add and divide has perplexed these bureaucrats?
What’s the chance the raw data collected often by hand at enormous effort over a hundred years shows temperatures falling or failing to climb?
What’s the chance the BOM was leaned on by the usual suspects in the Northern Hemisphere to adjust our data? They might have even been shown how it was done.
People say more than they mean to say, especially in the first comment. When does overseas ‘best practice’ become ‘common practice’? It is an admission of sorts. Everyone else does it and we were asked to do it. There you have it. The question is why? Actually we know why.
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Roy
Body language from scared scientists for all to see.
Portraits of Scared Scientists Seek to Drive Home the Critical State of Climate Change
Can’t wait to see Karoly in there with the other experts.
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Thanks Peter.
A study of the photography involved would itself be interesting. Does anyone care to comment?
10
Aliens from inner space I tell ya!
00
Peter,
The words are even more interesting. Each one seems to be “afraid” of some carefully chosen aspect of general climate change fear. How can people live like that, constantly fearing something? In one case, fear of “…losing control of the climate,”? Losing control of the climate? Don’t they know we never had control of it in the first place?
This whole climate change scare is a farce that not even Shakespeare or Gilbert and Sullivan could come up with.
It’s nonsense to say they’re afraid. They just want fame and fortune — power as well maybe so they can lord it over the unwashed masses. It’s time to tell them to get lost.
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And we ought to ask what is it that makes a scientist sacred? Can anyone answer that for me?
If you do something useful then you’re useful. Otherwise you’re just floating downstream with the current and why should we recognize you?
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Peter
More coverage on this
“Scared Scientists: The Moving Portraits which Will Change Forever Your Views on Climate Change”
at
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/08/28/Scared-Scientists-the-moving-portraits-which-will-change-forever-your-views-on-climate-change
And don’t miss the last line.
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One thing I do not understand in this debacle, is, if the Bureau of Manipulation (BOM) believed that a dramatic change of 2 degrees C resulted from a site change in the recording apparatus, would that change not be immediate and obvious, rather than taking decades to become apparent.
Earl
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Dellers is a true legend. Met him when he travelled to Australia. Don’t you just love the quality of comments? Poms are heartily sick of green these days.
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Again I guess being way down near the bottom of the comments, most won’t get around to reading this.
Not that matters too much in the scheme of things.
I usually don’t get around to immediately commenting when Jo puts a new post up because rather than an instant rapid fire, emotionally based response I try to think through the implications, the drivers and the probabilities of the situations that Jo so comphrehensively outlines.
What I believe I am seeing is a very serious and now fast deteriorating loss of public trust in our key public institutions.
We only have to look at the likes of the ABC, the BOM, the universities, the lack of public protection and [ “past” we hope ? ] active support by the political apparatchiks for the incredibly economically destructive scammers of the renewable energy industries with the increasingly unaffordable costs of energy for the public and industry, a situation diametrically opposite to the attitudes of the public energy supply organisations and politicals in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s.
We have increasing questioning of medical advances and the health professional services, the various and now intensely bureauractised fire services and some emergency services.
We increasingly and intensely distrust nearly ALL of the media to provide accurate, propaganda free, unbiased news of the world around us
There are many more such examples that could be quoted where previous long term historical public trust has now turned to an increasing distrust in the integrity and honesty and lack of bias in our main underlying institutions on which our whole civilisation basically now relies.
This distrust and increasing outright contempt for some of our more enduring political, bureaucratic and business institutions is now endemic across the western world and increasingly so
It can be seen in the conservative American Tea Party movement where distrust of government and it’s institutions is now rampant. It can be seen here on Jo’s blog where we regularly see quite viperous denunciations of many formerly highly respected institutions of government and bureacracy ie the BOM, the Universities, the various Climate organizations and bureaucracies, the scientific organizations and societies,
All these plus many, many more have copped a good deal of spleen from Jo’s many denizens as can also be seen on WUWT and just about every other blog covering most blog subjects,
Some distrust and some questioning of all of these institutions has always been there and rightly so as it helps keep to the forefront, the maintaining of honesty and integrity as the basic underpinnings of any public organisation and body.
But why the rapidly rising intensity and spread of this distrust and outright contempt for our major societal institutions today?
I don’t know the answers!
I can only guess!
Most of the increase in loss of trust in these societal institutions seems to coincide with the rise of the Internet at the start of the 1990’s and it’s quite sudden impact in the incredible opening up of immense amounts of previously hard to find information. Plus the Internets world wide communication explosion including the all important impact of the eye ball orientated graphics in colour which has led to opinions from every part of the world, the society we live in, the nation we live in, the neighbour hood we live in, all these are now readily accessible for anybody at any level in society to both provide examples from their own lives and from the lives of those about them and for them to give opinions at whatever level they might wish on what ever subject they might wish.
Consequently much of what was formerly not hidden in the real sense but was difficult to access in those public and societal institutions, organisations and societies have become widely and easily accessible to those in the public who have an interest in that field and who have an interest in disentangling the formerly difficult institutional entrails of those organisations. ie ; BOM’s manipulation of data which would never have surfaced and if it had would have been confined to a tiny in-group in the pre-internet days of the pre 1990’s.
But I also suspect there is another factor which nobody seems to consider and that is the quite large generational shift in attitudes that took place around the mid to 1970’s to early 1980’s towards the responsibility of public institutions to the public as the pre- WW2 generation faded out and were replaced by the free ranging, no regard for personal responsibility of the second post war generation, those born of the children of the pre-WW2 parents and who grew to adulthood in the free for all mid to late 1960’s and from then on.
Those pre WW2 generations had a very hard time and had the attitude post war that they had to rebuild both their own lives as well as their nations and their society and had to build it all for their kids who they hoped would never have to go through what they had to in their lives.
And the returning soldiers who had been in the front lines brought back the attitudes that you never ratted on your mates, an attitude which permeated through out the society of the times.
Today those same institutions are run by a generation who have wanted for little and who consequently have come to the belief that their own selfish personal interests and beliefs must be promoted even at the costs of the severe disadvantage to those who rely and depend on them and their honesty and integrity in the carrying out of their duties and obligations to society as a part of their role in that institution or organisation.
And this I think and could be very wrong, is at the heart of the increasing distrust and increasing public contempt for so may of our basic societal institutions, the very people who inhabit and run those institutions and organisations by their own very selfish, often arrogant, condescending, inflexible and personal attitudes and actions and the promoting of their own personal beliefs over and above thir institutional obligations are in the process of destroying the very organisations in the public’s eyes that they are so dependent on for their personal influences and power.
And this attitude is directly related to the extraordinarily high standards of living, the relative luxury and amounts of leisure by human historical standards enjoyed by those who inhabit and run those societal institutions and who want for nothing material which in their often isolated silos, in turn leads to a group confirmation bias that they might as well grab all they can as everybody else is doing it, regardless of the real situation and truth outdside of their isolated mental and intellectual silos and the consequent group confirmation bias wrong as it might be.
“Spiritually” there is usually an empty hole today witha lot of the public which requires a belief in something higher than one’s own self, an interesting human trait shared by the domesticated animal kingdom. This is filled in many / most cases today by a unshakeable belief in the power of that mysterious higher spiritual plane, the great “Nature” which must always be placated and never allowed to be vioLated hence the extreme reactions to anybody who doesn’t believe in the dangerous to the supreme NATURE by man made climate change or GMO’s destroying that supreme Nature’s control over all things”natural” plus innumerable other examples, all of which is reflected by the believers and the way in which, unlike the times when such spiritual emptiness was filled by conventional religion at some personal level, they use the power of their public institutions to promote their own personal ideologies; in short the Greens and Watermelons of today and their insidious mind set control of so many of today’s public institutions .
How do we know this or how can I guess at this.
The opening up of formerly hidden or obscure activities and operations and the personal proclivities of the personnel of society’s organisations, institutions and public bureaucratic structures by the power, influence and the society changing world wide communications revolution and the Internet of the World
Wide Web.
Nobody can now hide their misdemeanors and deliberate malfeasance from the all penetrating powers of the World Wide Web as the BOM and many other public and not so public institutions are now discovering to theirs and societies great cost in reputation and respect and ultimately to their diminution in power, influence and respect and perhaps leading to their ultimate demise.
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ROM you are bang on with the idea of high speed global communication networks (internet/phone) having a huge impact on social commentary being heard.
I’ve commented before on the difference between the start of the 1980’s and the early 1990’s in relation to advancement of communication technology available to the average person, honestly if people were told in 1980 that they could have their own personal computer at home connected to any other computer in the world via satellite technology in the 1990’s most would have laughed and scoffed mainly at the speed of this occurring.
Yet here we are. 🙂
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rom,fantastic post .it would make a good discussion topic at somewhere like climate etc .might not go down to well with some of the intellectuals though 🙂
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ROM,
And it’s not just in Oz. America and Europe are suffering the same thing.
Tragic is the only word I can think of to describe it.
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i’ve noticed for some time now that ABC provides less and less transcripts. billion-dollar-plus annual taxpayer-funding obviously can’t afford it. regional ABC rarely does any.
cutting jennifer off was probably intentional or they would have got her back immediately, as they do regularly with other guests, with nothing of importance to say.
ABC has plenty of time for the following:
heard the second half this morning. CAGW – Schmidt agrees with sceptics that consensus doesn’t prove something is right but, if scientists are awarded a Nobel Prize, then that means the consensus exists or something! says scientists can’t decide policy, but an ETS seems unlikely, so Govt should provide funds for massive CAGW research program, kind of like the Apollo Program.
AUDIO: 28 Aug: ABC Big Ideas: Science and society
Professor Brian Schmidt, a Nobel Prize winning astronomer and physicist, addresses a number of key issues confronting Australian scientists and researchers…
What should science be doing to better inform the development of public policy?
Highlights of the 2014 Kenneth Myer lecture; Science and society: Exploring the role of research in Australian lives, Presented by the Friends of the National Library of Australia.
Guest: Professor Brian Schmidt, Australia’s 2011 Nobel Laureate for Physics and Laureate Fellow at The Australian National University’s Mount Stromlo Observatory.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/science-and-society/5680792
2011: Brian Schmidt: We must challenge ourselves
Those who would continue arguing against the theory of global warming must be informed by the facts
Brian Schmidt is an Australian Research Council Laureate professor and astronomer at Mt Stromlo Observatory.
https://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~brian/IMAGES/Climate-Change-combined.pdf
Maurice Newman – You have a taker: Brian Schmidt 15 Jan 2014
https://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~brian/IMAGES/Maurice.pdf
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[…] sceptic blogger JoNova also commented on the ABC interview with […]
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planning for a “big movement”! McKibben is never at risk of getting cut off, that’s for sure:
much more, incl how The World Council of Churches, representing 580 million Christians, will try to persuade Pope Francis to get the Vatican to divest from fossil fuels, at the link:
28 Aug: Democracy Now: As Obama Settles on Nonbinding Treaty, “Only a Big Movement” Can Take on Global Warming
As international climate scientists warn runaway greenhouse gas emissions could cause “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts,” the Obama administration is abandoning attempts to have Congress agree to a legally binding international climate deal…
This comes as a new U.N. report warns climate change could become “irreversible” if greenhouse gas emissions go unchecked…
We speak to 350.org founder Bill McKibben about why his hopes for taking on global warming lie not in President Obama’s approach, but rather in events like the upcoming People’s Climate March in New York City, which could mark the largest rally for climate action ever…
BILL McKIBBEN: The new U.N. report is more of the same. In a sense, it’s the scientific community, through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, telling us what they’ve been telling us now for two decades, that global warming is out of control and the biggest threat that human beings have ever faced. They’re using what was described as blunter, more forceful language. At this point, you know, short of self-immolation in Times Square, there’s really not much more that the scientific community could be doing to warn us…
BILL McKIBBEN:…We need to be doing what the Germans have done. There were days this summer when the Germans were getting 75 percent of their power from solar panels within their borders…
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/8/28/as_obama_settles_on_non_binding
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29 Aug: SMH: Dan Harrison: Dick Warburton says climate sceptic views did not influence report recommending slashing of renewable energy target
VIDEO: Greens, solar industry slam RET review
Winding back the renewable energy target will kill jobs and investment warns Greens Leader Christine Milne and the Australian Solar Council…
“I say, “Why on earth would we spend $22 billion on a scheme that’s far more expensive than other ways of reducing emissions?’ ” he said.
Mr Warburton admitted that, according to the panel’s modelling, if its recommendations were adopted, the value of existing coal-fired power generators would increase by $9.1 billion, principally because wholesale electricity prices would rise.
But he said power prices for consumers would be “about the same in the medium to long term”.
He said consumers would benefit from the removal of subsidies for renewable energy generation…
Environment Minister Greg Hunt – who favours keeping the target, but faces opposition in cabinet – said the government was considering the report and that he was “very, very mindful” of its election commitment to maintain it…
Mr Hunt favours the 20 per cent scenario, which he views as a compromise to avoid closing the scheme to new investors. But Mr Abbott is understood to favour the tougher option.
Any change proposed by the government will set the scene for another parliamentary fight, with Labor, the Greens and the Palmer United Party all opposed…
Greens leader Christine Milne said both options put forward would destroy the renewable energy sector.
***”I’m glad this dangerous and ignorant report is finally public so everyone can see it for the climate denier drivel it is,” she said…
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/dick-warburton-says-climate-sceptic-views-did-not-influence-report-recommending-slashing-of-renewable-energy-target-20140829-109tgd.html
***Milne is such a sweet talker!
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love this!
28 Aug: WaPo Letters: How to change the climate on global warming
From: Elliott Negin, Washington
(The writer is director of news and commentary for the Union of Concerned Scientists)
BLAH BLAH
If The Post is serious about clearing up confusion about global warming, it would follow the lead of the BBC and stop publishing scientifically indefensible statements.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-to-change-the-climate-on-global-warming/2014/08/28/408d0340-2ca0-11e4-be9e-60cc44c01e7f_story.html
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Jennifer quoted:
29 Aug: Australian: Graham Lloyd: Bureau of Meteorology told to be more transparent
THE Bureau of Meteorology was told to be more transparent and make public all details of the computer models used to adjust historic temperature records by the peer review panel that cleared its work as world best practice.
The 2011 independent panel told BOM to clearly explain any changes that were made between raw and “homogenised” data…
BOM’s 2011 independent panel said it was “satisfied overall” with the bureau’s methodology but it “encouraged” the bureau to improve the public transparency of the process used.
The panel recommended a list of adjustments be made publicly available along with the adjusted temperature series including the rationale for each adjustment. It said the computer codes underpinning the national ACORNSAT data-set, including the algorithms and protocols used by BOM for data quality control, should be made publicly available.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/bureau-of-meteorology-told-to-be-more-transparent/story-e6frg8y6-1227040620469
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UPDATED — Apparently the caller was someone called David from Sandy Creek (or something like that) who was quoting John Cook or John Cook’s site skepticalscience rather than John Cook himself.
Post corrected. Apparently mishearing someone is a “conspiracy theory”. I guess when you have no answer for the trends and graphs, the name-calling is all that is left.
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Our mate Graham Readfearn, deep Green luvvy that he is, spins this as a massive sceptic conspiracy theory:
http://www.readfearn.com/2014/08/climate-change-conspiracy-theories-and-the-abc-interview-with-john-cook-that-never-was/
Methinks he has been drinking the Lew Koolaid again. Unlike his site or his beloved SkS mate’s, however, I see you are quick to update corrections. I almost feel sorry for the ‘journalist’ who is lucky to get one or two comments on each of his blog dumps.
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After his humiliating performance in Brisbane, I can see he’s been learning to stick to the facts. Carefully selected facts and then spinning them like an extreme weather event.
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You should know better Nova, how dare you and your plebian ilk even consider questioning the great carbon oracle!
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Now that you’ve made a total muppet of yourself, perhaps you might like to apologise to the ABC or John Cook? No, didn’t think so.
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Ah… the doormat speaks again. !
Jo has apologised, below.
You really don’t have much to offer this world, do you, child-mind. !
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Whatever the cause of the confusion, the fact remains that BOM’s proferred explanations for the dramatic difference between the raw data and the adjusted ACORN data at stations such as Amberley and Rutherglen have been found to be wrong!
Climate skeptics are now being accused of yet another conspiracy theory, accusing the BOM of falsely adjusting temperature data to ‘create’ warming where there wasn’t any. The true explanation could be simply that the adjustment methodology is flawed, or the BOM have incompetently applied the methodology, or the work was not adequately checked to pick up obvious errors.
Whatever the explanation the BOM could resolve all these issues simply by releasing the data and adjustment details for all 112 stations in the ACORN data series. Until they do, the public have good reason to ask, why the reluctance? And if that means people assume the possibility of a conspiracy, then the party to blame is BOM and BOM alone.
The Left side of politics didn’t mind accusing the Government of ‘hiding refugee boats’ when secrecy was applied to ‘Operation Sovereign Boarders’. That possibility was mentioned by many commentators on the ABC and in the Fairfax press who demanded the Government reveal all. Why are they not so concerned about transparency when it comes to data which is being used to direct Government policy and spend billions of tax payer dollars?
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So denigration (amateurs), quote from authority, name calling. What’s next? On the one hand they are desperate not to give this more publicity. On the other, it is page 3 news anyway in the evil Murdoch press and everyone reads Murdoch, so something has to be done.
Perhaps a intimidation panel of experts, ex climate commissioners, who will try all three, a bit like the Stygian witches. Time to roast a skeptic in the cold winter. Or maybe Jennifer will get an invitation to a faux current affairs show where she will not be allowed to speak while an abusive panel asks what she is going to do about the image of muslims or the budget or Tony Abbott or aborigines or boat people?
Avoid both. Keep up the great work.
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The Australian Brainwashing Corporation is extremely powerful, but ultimately they will come to their senses. In the meantime …
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/08/28/paper-long-pauses-in-warming-will-soon-be-a-thing-of-the-past/
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Hey Jo
Sorry for the confusion and apologies to John Cook. I was on-hold after I called back. If you call that station you get to hear what is on air as you wait. As I listened, initially I was wondering who Bronwen was talking with. Then with mention of the blog Sceptical Science I assumed, wrongly, that it was John Cook.
Anyway, the key issue here is that: 1. the Bureau will not defend the homogenisation of the data for Rutherglen. This is just one example of many that has the net effect of generating a global warming trend when none existed. The economic and political, not to mention scientific, implications are considerable.
On a positive note… I was just interviewed by Tom Elliott from 3AW in Melbourne. I think it went well. I didn’t get cut off. I’m not sure if there would be a transcript available.
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Wow failed with ABC but survived Fairfax.
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No. That’s ABC failed. Has Jennifer heard anything from ABC since being so rudely terminated …?
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Thanks Jen. I’ve added to the post:
UPDATED: Apologies to John Cook from Jen and myself for the error. If he wants to explain his views on the BOM and homogenization, I’m happy to post them here. – Jo
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well done, this would never happen on the sks website. i understand and agree with the snip in relation to this particular topic, my comments regarding mr cook and the sks website still stand . keep pushing ,you guys are achieving something that is long overdue.
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Jo completely off topic but Nir Shaviv’s reference to the earth’s climate being a “low pass filter” with reference to solar activity.
http://www.sciencebits.com/WorstBEST
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Jen’s interview is here
http://media.mytalk.com.au/3aw/audio/weather.mp3
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An aside; why was the presenter unable to pronounce a relatively common Celtic surname?
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After hearing how an Aussie colleague pronounces Mahoney’s I must say, I thought the presenter done rather well with Jennifer’s.
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Hey James
Thanks for listening.
My surname is an abbreviation of the Betsileo name from Madagascar: Andriamarohasy.
I married a fellow from Madagascar when I was 25, which is about 25 years ago now. We were married for 10 years. Most Madagascan names start with Ra or Andria… Andria designates that the person is noble.
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Thanks, Jennifer. That is interesting, I had it as the silent “h”, as in Strachan, etc, etc (worse still when its owner says “Strack-an” :-). Mmm, so few Celts on Madagascar..
Your treatment at the hands of the ABC struck a familiar chord. I wonder if (the blameless) Bronwen O’Shea will learn something about the nature of her employer from its shameful and bog-rude form.
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More from The Australian today. This time it’s about Bourke.
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Jo.
O/T but FYI
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2014/8/29/climate-economics.html
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Tom Peterson. You have involved yourself in much mischief.
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Another fine article by Graham Lloyd:
Weatherman’s records detail heat that ‘didn’t happen’.
“AS a child, Ian Cole would watch his father Neville take meticulous readings from the Bureau of Meteorology thermometer at the old post office in the western NSW town of Bourke and send the results through by teleprinter. The temperature was recorded every three hours, including at night when the mercury sometimes plunged to freezing, and the data was logged in handwritten journals that included special notes to help explain the results. That all changed in 1996…”
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Link didn’t appear for some reason:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/weathermans-records-detail-heat-that-didnt-happen/story-e6frg6xf-1227041833824
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I live in Rutherglen and have been aware of the weather station site at the Rutherglen Research Station for 40 plus years. I am disgusted at the altering of the original data. for 2 reasons. It spits on the hard work collecting that data ( rain hail and shine) for a century. Also, the real figures may well be now lost. forever.
. Think water didn’t freeze at. 0deg C at 101325 KPa in 1890…? Or boil at 100 deg C? Wow, they even knew the freezing point of a 5 percent salt solution. Ie they had a 3 point linear calibration.
Think the originals are still there on the shelf out there.?
I’m not so sure.
Got to say I also know Bronwen. maybe we can ask if she was pressured by ABC Management.Shes’s actually a good egg. is this a setup from their ABC ?
Closest weather stations are in fact, or Wodonga, Wangaratta, Yarrawonga and Corowa.
Deniliquin is ridiculous miles away, All will have relevant data.
But look for the original data, not the ACORN crap, and don’t accept the we’ve shifted those sites arguments either.
Incidentally, if you want to see the worlds best argument for heat island effects , see the Stephenson screen at Rutherglen. New improvements , wire and steel enclosure, footpaths, buildings. So if they can’t show Global Warming at RRS without cooking the books?
My advice is …dress warmly!
[We wouldn’t think there is much possibility of an ABC set-up, and as you note Bronwen is a good egg and unlikely to participate. But group-think is certainly something we see at the ABC in a number of areas. Which is why the survey done earlier last year showed that ABC reporters indicated a voting intention which was almost the exact reverse of the Australian population: “41.2% of the 34 ABC journalists who declared a voting intention said they would vote for the Greens, followed by 32.4% for Labor and 14.7% for the Coalition.” The Coalition of course won the election comfortably. – Mod]
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