Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, August 30, 2011
1
Oh, Bill Nye. Trying so hard to bring science to the masses. I applaud you, sir. It's just too bad that cable news anchors/viewers don't have the attention span to follow your commendable logic.
2
I'm impressed. In a few simple and charming steps he explained away racism, defended Al Gore and made climate change skeptics look like fools. Let's not kid ourselves that he'll change any of the retrograde minds at Fox, but he gets major props for trying and for doing it with class.
4
Oh god, every time the news anchor speaks, Bill Nye has the most incredulous look on his face...priceless!
5
So will fox viewers come away from that thinking "those were interesting points, I feel I have a greater understanding of my opposition now" or will they think "damn elitist librul scientists!"?
9
Elementary and middle school students can follow his logic. I am pretty sure the interviewer wanted the audience to decide they were confused before they realized they were thinking. @8 The interviewer brought up raceism. Chewbaca defense.
10
So in under 7 minutes, Bill proved that: 1) global warming is real, 2) racism is an evolutionary throwback, and 3) we all love doggies.
I love that guy.
I love that guy.
14
That newscasters first question "Is this proof of global warming yes or no!??!?" is as totally ignorant of science as you can get. I'm imagining Bill Nye holding back an urge to slap him through the camera.
15
Wow. How can you be such a rude, condescending asshole to freakin' Bill Nye? Is that attitude a requirement to work for Fox News?
16
@8: what was the issue at hand? Every time he addresses one, the "issue at hand" changes to whatever other talking point the anchor can think of.
18
Bill Nye let himself get off message with the racist analogy. It was a smart answer, but he should have returned to "global warming is a fact." He should have said that over, and over, and over, and over again.
21
@18, 8 - If he'd sidestepped the racial issue the screeching man-harpy brought up, that would have looked worse. I think Bill handled himself very well here.
23
As someone who's watched almost no television in the last 8 years (except incidentally when traveling), I'm struck by the constantly WHIRLING graphics in the background of the p-i-p interview headshots. It's like watching the world from a merry-go-round. No wonder Fox viewers are so addled.
24
@21, me too, that's a hell of a line. That Fox Business show is apparently called "Freedom Watch" and is usually hosted by the jagoff judge Anthony Napolitano. The show's motto is paranoid blather:
Centuries of government deception have suspended our freedom and replaced it with a mythology rich in the ideals we are promised but do not actually experience.http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/freedo…
25
@17: So you DO agree that global warming is occurring? That's progress, at least. Beyond that point though, the linked article—which consists solely of commentary, not data—distorts the findings to a degree that's just silly.
Climate scientists are incredibly interested in this experiment, although there are major limitations on how much can be extrapolated from it. For anyone who's more interested in what scientists think about the science than in what a novelist thinks about the science, check this out: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/arc…
Climate scientists are incredibly interested in this experiment, although there are major limitations on how much can be extrapolated from it. For anyone who's more interested in what scientists think about the science than in what a novelist thinks about the science, check this out: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/arc…
27
@17: Let me tell you why that's bullshit.
The study indicates that the sun's activity influences the extent of cloud formation. Here's the kicker, though: clouds have very little to do with global warming! Clouds cause heating by absorbing and reemitting outbound terrestrial radiation, and cause cooling by reflecting incoming solar radiation. HOWEVER, solar radiation is mostly in the visible spectrum, whereas terrestrial radiation is almost entirely in the infrared spectrum, and so the cooling effect of clouds is much stronger.
In order for this effect to be responsible for the observed trend of global warming, we'd need a noticeable constant decrease in cloud cover. And guess what we get? This. Notice that the change in cloud cover correlates quite nicely to the change in cosmic ray intensity, and that they are both cyclical with a period of about 11 years. (Just like every other fucking thing about the Sun.)
The study indicates that the sun's activity influences the extent of cloud formation. Here's the kicker, though: clouds have very little to do with global warming! Clouds cause heating by absorbing and reemitting outbound terrestrial radiation, and cause cooling by reflecting incoming solar radiation. HOWEVER, solar radiation is mostly in the visible spectrum, whereas terrestrial radiation is almost entirely in the infrared spectrum, and so the cooling effect of clouds is much stronger.
In order for this effect to be responsible for the observed trend of global warming, we'd need a noticeable constant decrease in cloud cover. And guess what we get? This. Notice that the change in cloud cover correlates quite nicely to the change in cosmic ray intensity, and that they are both cyclical with a period of about 11 years. (Just like every other fucking thing about the Sun.)
28
Poor, poor Science Guy. I can't believe that Fox news can still convince thinking humans to come to try to speak sensibly just to be yelled at.
29
For anyone who's interested, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR, located in Boulder, CO) does a lot of research on climate change:
http://www2.ucar.edu/news/backgrounders/…
Including some data about how the sun cannot be the only factor responsible for it:
http://www2.ucar.edu/climate/faq/dont-ch…
sorry 5280, the sun isn't the problem.
http://www2.ucar.edu/news/backgrounders/…
Including some data about how the sun cannot be the only factor responsible for it:
http://www2.ucar.edu/climate/faq/dont-ch…
sorry 5280, the sun isn't the problem.
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