Climategate
We start with a file called “HARRY_READ_ME.txt.” This is a file containing notes of someone’s three-year effort to try to turn a pile of existing code and data into something useful. Who is Harry, you ask? Clearly, a skilled programmer with some expertise in data reduction, statistics, and climate science. Beyond that I won’t go. I’ve seen sites attributing this file to an identifiable person, but I don’t have any corroboration, and frankly the person who wrote these years of notes has suffered enough.
Poor Harry is in the first circle of programmer hell: the program runs fine; the output is wrong.
This was a pretty entertaining article about some more of the leaked climate change data and emails from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in the U.K.
If you haven't heard about this here are a couple of climate change friendly links, Guardian and Times Online what is interesting is that don't even address the code and data that was also included with the emails. Just the emails as they are easily defended and can be written off as just the usual banter between dedicated scientists bent on getting their incredibly important message out and saving the world. While the critics are the evil fossil fuel companies, bent on killing the earth while seeking their evil profits.
What is really interesting is that this news isn't being reported heavily in the large publications. Doing news search on this brings up surprisingly few hits. Most of those deal with the importance of the unknown hackers instead of the possibility that the data used heavily in proving that man caused global climate change is a real and present danger could be corrupted. In fact it could be so screwed that the climate scientists themselves can't reproduce their own results.
Also not mentioned is the possibility that it wasn't evil hackers that released the emails and code but someone on the inside acting a whistle blower. Personal information has deleted from some of the emails and that doesn't really seem like something that hackers would take the time to do.
Just to balance things out here are some more links with information about this.
Posted Wednesday 01:11 PM
Schrodingers Cat
They Really Said That » Rovin » Hot Air Green Room
The reference to Schrodinger's Cat in the comment below to post linked above made me grin.
Comment left on a post in the Green Room at Hot Air
I say we stuff Krugman into Schroedinger’s box. While in the box, Krugman is both alive and dead. It is not until you open the box that you determine whether he is one or the other. Making quantum mechanics fun, that’s my goal! GnuBreed on November 12, 2009 at 11:39 PM
And if you are wondering about Schrodinger's Cat, and this.
Posted Sunday 06:47 PM
Rejection of Reality
I Reject Your Reality » Dafydd Ab Hugh » Hot Air Green Room
It’s hard to swallow the contention that a former lieutenant general (that’s a 3-banger) in the United States Army would be blissfully unaware of what counterinsurgency strategy is, and how it differs from a counter-terrorism strategy… where we “fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt”. I hope that’s not the problem. But if not, then what makes Eikenberry think he’s more fit to opine on Afghanistan than the general that Barack Obama himself hand-picked to do just that? (And who is, as I understand it, an expert on COIN strategy.)
An interesting take on the apparent disconnect between the average citizen and the people who are currently running our government. It doesn't just deal with the situation in Afghanistan but several things that are contradictory in their stated purpose and what they actually achieve.
Posted Friday 10:07 AM
Stuff I Always Lose
Decided to start adding some things here that I always end up having to google for every time I need them. They will all be tagged as notes so maybe I keep this somewhere that I'll remember.
First off the ffmpeg command line to get an mp3 out of a flash video.
ffmpeg -i video.flv -ar 44100 -ab 160k -ac 2 file.mp3
Posted Tuesday 10:16 PM
Reagan Coffee Cup Speech Still Pertinent
I intended to leave politics out of this blog for the most part but with the whole health care debate going on it's hard to avoid completely.
I realize that this clip of Ronald Reagan speaking out against medicare has been going around and getting a lot of play lately. While it might sound cold hearted to suggest that the medicare system should be done away with that doesn't change the basic fact that it is true. All of the arguments against socialized medicine that Reagan touches on are still true today as well as the warnings he gave about the dangers of letting the government get this kind of power over us.
During his campaign in 1980 Reagan was criticized for his earlier opposition to medicare and social security both. He managed to deflect these questions and while in office didn't manage any sort of meaningful reform. By 1980 both of these programs had become political kryptonite and continue to be unassailable for the foreseeable future.
We need to take the opportunity that the current health debate has given to us and assuming that the total socialization our health care can be avoided we need to start talking about cutting all of the entitlement programs back. There needs to be a sane solution to deal with the people that the government has forced onto these programs. Sane and compassionate are not mutually exclusive there are answers if we can ever get to a point where we can ask the questions.
Click the play button below to hear the speech.
Right Click Save As to download mp3
Full transcript via Lonely Conservative.
Posted Sunday 07:49 PM