Items by Tom Smith

• CRU code an unusable mess; geeks will abandon AGW cause Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  If you lose the geeks, you are in trouble. [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 11:15am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Follow the climate money Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Cash has a uniquely warming effect. [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 11:00am EST
  by Tom Smith

• What is a legal question? Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  A student of mine came up with this clever way for law students to identify legal questions. [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 8:54am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Revkin does damage control Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Even more worrisome than the fate of the world from global warming is the fate of the global warming worldview.  It seems to be sitting there like a polar bear on a shrinking ice berg.  Here's Mr. Revkin doing his best.  The argument is -- so what if the [...]

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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 12:01pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Religious origins of the right of revolution Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  This looks interesting, from John Kang at St. Thomas. [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 11:27am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Health care for all Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  

  
  Believe. 

  [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 6:37pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Is global warming unstoppable? Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2009) — In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions -- the major cause of global warming -- cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day.

  via [...]

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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 11:11am EST
  by Tom Smith

• How pedophilia lost its cool Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Some fascinating and persuasive social criticism. [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 9:54am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Spirit of Jamul Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  This definitely captures one facet of the mystery that is Jamul.  But we have plenty of Mormons, people who raise llamas, and grumpy professors, too. [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 8:38pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Google is managing our collective consciousness Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  This is actually a very troubling story.  I certainly agree that offensive images of our first lady are offensive.  I have not looked at any of them and I don't intend to, but I'm willing to stipulate that they would offend any person of good will.  What is troubling [...]

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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 2:29pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Ski resorts fight global warming; Utah gov unsure Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Ski resorts across the country are using the Thanksgiving weekend to jump start their winter seasons, but with every passing year comes a frightening realization: If global temperatures continue to rise, fewer and fewer resorts will be able to open for the traditional beginning of ski season.

  via www.sfgate.com

  Why can't [...]

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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 1:04pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Dear Prudence only quicker Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Jeez, this is easy:

  1A:  Tell your boyfriend if he is not going to marry you promptly, you will dump him.  Then if he doesn't, dump him.  Chances are good you should just dump him anyway, so alternatively, just dump him now.  You sound like a nice girl.  You could [...]

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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 10:13am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Party crashers should not have been admitted on the basis of what she is wearing Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  I mean just look at her.  Or is that what ladies wear to state dinners these days?  I don't care if it is supposed to be Indian or something.  On her it looks tres ridicule.  This is what comes from indiscriminate multiculturalism.  I mean I could dress up in [...]

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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 9:50am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Maybe I should stop being such a bitch Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  The impossible to parody Judith Warner. [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 2:38am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Ahmadinejad to Chavez: 'We're going to be together until the end' | Headlines News | Jerusalem Post Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  "We feel at home here and among our brothers ... we're going to be together until the end," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez during a visit to Latin America on Wednesday.

  via www.jpost.com

  [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 3:01pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Local News | Aerial-gunning foes ask Obama to ban practice Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  A wildlife advocacy group Friday asked President Barack Obama to end aerial gunning of coyotes and other predators, citing an Idaho incident where a shotgun-wielding parachutist illegally fired on a wolf.

  via seattletimes.nwsource.com

  [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 3:00pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• If SCOTUS relied on it, is it still rubbish? Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  From

  MASSACHUSETTS, ET AL., PETITIONERS
  v.
  ENVIRON-MENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ET AL. No. 05-1120.

  Supreme Court of United States.

  . . .
  

  I
  

  Section 202(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act, as added by Pub. L. 89-272, §101(8), 79 Stat. 992, and as amended by, inter alia, 84 Stat. 1690 and 91 Stat. 791, [...]

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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 12:36pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Ron Bailey on climategate docs Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  It's not just the emails. [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 5:19pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Never assume malice when stupidity will do Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Maybe the CRU emails were not hacked by mysterious Russian black hats but inadvertently posted on a public FTP by insiders at CRU.  Well, predicting the future of weather and network security -- they're both really hard.

  Speaking of stupidity:  I don't even know what to say about this. [...]

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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 10:49am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Wrong Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  To each his own, but IMHO this is not the way a woman should look.  This is. [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:25pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• A radical thought Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  How many climate scientists or any other rational people would bet their own money on these models?  If you are just a bit cynical to begin with, it sounds like the data going into the models are, uh, crap, and the code itself is a complete, rubbishy mess.  The [...]

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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:22pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Looking at the CRU code Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Over at JamulBlog.  

  I'm not a software engineer or climatologist but I'm guessing comments like "fudge factor" and "ARTIFICAL CORRECTION" might suggest the data is being, well, fudged.  Read the whole thing and the posts around it too.

  To restate the obvious, the data and the code have to be [...]

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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 1:08pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Dark power: Grand designs for interstellar travel - space - 25 November 2009 - New Scientist Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  He wasn't exaggerating. Even our nearest star Proxima Centauri is a staggering 4.2 light years away - more than 200,000 times the distance from the Earth to the sun. Or, if you like, the equivalent of 50 million trips to the moon and back.

  via www.newscientist.com

  [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 12:55pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Report Aims to Clarify Climate Risk for Diplomats - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  A team of climate scientists, seeking to remind the negotiators who will hammer out a new climate treaty of what is at stake, has produced  The Copenhagen Diagnosis, a summary of the latest peer-reviewed science on the anticipated impacts of human-driven global warming. In an interview,  Richard Somerville, a climatologist [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 5:30pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Major Obama wine faux pas Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  A Rhone with shrimp?  Is nothing sacred? [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 12:51pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Rhodes Scholars Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  don't go into politics so much any more.

  Which gives me a chance to tell this true story.  In 1978 I was flying from Chicago or Pittsburgh or somewhere to Ithaca, NY on Allegheny Airlines (now part of US Air and then justly known as Agony Airlines).  I was sitting next to [...]

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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 3:25pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Look at the bright side Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  If those climatologists at CRU were in a position to actually cause the earth to get warmer, don't you think they would have done so? [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 10:45am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Paul Krugman, economic sage Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  I can't compete with this.  There are many things to love about Italy.  But it's public finance is not one of them.  I thought everybody knew this.

  I think the only explanation is that Krugman has discovered that being a political (let's use the charitable term) advocate and not trying [...]

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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 9:48am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Clue train arrives at liberal parenting households Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  I have been saying for years that we should treat kids more like dogs.  What I mean is, reward good behavior and punish bad behavior.  Can it really be that some parents "don't allow the word 'no' to be said around their children"?  LWJ and I don't get out [...]

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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 9:24am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Why America must learn to bow to China Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  This is one creepy Brit. [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 7:07am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Interesting CRU email analysis Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Over at JamulBlog.

  It will be interesting to see how many eyes will analyze this data.  Over time an impression of what the warmer scientisticalists were up to will emerge.

  I recant now from calling this what looks like a major criminal conspiracy.  That was overheated. Something like, a spontaneous and [...]

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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 5:09pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• It wasn't a hack, it was a leak Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Probably.  I must say, the ethics of this bother me very little.  You have a public institution, subject to FOIA laws in the UK, inside of which are people who are deliberately taking steps to prevent information getting out, including evidently the destruction of data, quite possibly in violation [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 1:02pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• The "context" of the climate emails Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Jones and others are saying the emails are being quoted "out of context."  Well, here's the context.

  I'm all for not jumping to conclusions, hearing both sides and all of that.  So I will just say what this looks like:  This looks like crooks cooking the scientific books on what [...]

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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 9:55am EST
  by Tom Smith

• A picture is worth a thousand words Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  

  That's why sometimes you have to, uh, buff them up a bit.  (More here.)
  

  [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 9:34am EST
  by Tom Smith

• More science fraud and criminal behavior Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Man, this is really bad.  

  This isn't just scientific fraud, this is (assuming it's not some sort of elaborate hoax, which it sure does not seem to be) a major criminal conspiracy.  These so-called scientists seem to be motivated by getting huge grants, millions of dollars, and presumably [...]

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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 11:06pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• AGW scandal; link to download hacked data Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  

  I think this is going to be a big scandal.

  This is really bad.  These guys will be lucky to stay out of jail.  It's green alright, as in greenbacks.
  
  

  FileDropper Free File Hosting

  
  

  
  

  [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 10:27pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Condemned to an early death: Rationing body tells liver cancer victims that life-prolonging drug is 'too costly' | Mail Online Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Dr Harpreet Wasan, a cancer consultant at London's Hammersmith Hospital, said: 'This cancer is not like any other cancer. There is no alternative treatment. Every other drug that has been tried fails to work.

  via www.dailymail.co.uk

  [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 10:18pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Climate change science faking scandal? Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Oh. my. goodness.  You have to read this.  I really can't do it justice.  This whole global inter-web thing makes getting away with stuff so much more complicated.  Still, as befits a skeptic, I am skeptical scientists are so stupid they would do anything this likely to be exposed. [...]

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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 6:08pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• When in doubt, act Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Belichick was right to go for it.  I like to think I try not to make the mistake of going passive in risky situations, but on reflection, I can think of as many times when I did this as when I did not.

  I like applications of statistics to football. [...]

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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 11:26am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Fat killers captured in Peru Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  I feel safer. [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 3:21am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Sarah lined up for $20M payday Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  LMFAO.  Oh but wait!  Did she have a good reason for quitting the Alaskan governorship where her opponents were trying to bankrupt her with trumped up ethics claims?  I'm not sure she is really playing this right.  Did I mention she is divisive?  And polarizing!  And who does she [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 4:20pm EST
  by Tom Smith

• Could states opt out of ObamaCare by constitutional amendment? Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  This is interesting.  If federalism were to defeat ObamaCare, we would have to score another big one for those dead white Founders, peace be upon them. [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:03am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Dems go after fake breasts Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Is there no depth to which they will not sink?

  And then there's this.  Today breasts, tomorrow prostates.  But just think of how much money this will save, which we can then give to public employee unions and really innovative public school teachers, not to mention those hard working [...]

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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 8:50am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Jihadi conflicts of interest Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  This is getting ridiculous.  Can it really be true that lawyers who formerly represented terrorists are now inside the DOJ working on matters regarding what to do about the terrorists?  A former law professor is one, reportedly.  Now that's just not right.  I don't know what the DOJ rules [...]

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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 8:44am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Massaging CBO numbers Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  How the Senate bill gets deficit reduction out of the CBO numbers on the Senate health care bill. [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 8:38am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Hundreds of fake congressional districts? Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  OK I'm shocked.  The Chicago Way I guess. [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 8:31am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Am I missing something pirate-wise? Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Can it possibly really be true that a merchant ship in pirate infested waters is safer unarmed than armed? To me this sounds like the maritime version of the canard that you are safer walking through a dangerous neighborhood without a gun than with a gun, because if you [...]

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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 11:02am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Maybe she can get to know Roman Polanski Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Tough times for terror ex-lawyer. [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:52am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Winner of Obama health care video project Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  
  
  But I think it would have been better to do something like this:
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:47am EST
  by Tom Smith

• Hey everybody! Stop looking at Sarah! Maureen wants some attention too Tom Smith

  —Right Coast

  Don't cry, Maureen.  Maybe someday you'll write a blockbuster and I bet you were cute when you were in your forties as well. [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:35am EST
  by Tom Smith