2023: A Tambora kind of year

I don’t usually suggest that people drop what they are doing and read something because I read something. That tradition in mind, I am going to link to an article by Javier Vinos. He is author of the book Solving the Climate Puzzle, which I have sitting two feet from me. It is in a stack of books I have read for which I intend to look over Post-It flags and review, maybe even transcribe them.  This, for me, is a memory device. Maybe it helps, maybe not. Vinos has written an article at the Judith Curry website called The 2023 Climate Event Revealed the Greatest Failing of Climate Science.

I do remember from reading the Vinos book about heat transport mechanism that move from the tropics to the poles, primarily the Arctic. When, in winter, there is no sunlight, most of that transported heat is dissipated into space in the form of OLWR, or outgoing long-wave radiation. Climate alarmists have used an assumption called Tropical Hot Spot theory, that the upper troposphere is warming faster than the lower troposphere, and that the lower is warming faster than the surface. This assumption was shown to be without evidence** in a comment on EPA’s repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding by Wallace III, MacDougald, and Menton. (Menton, for anyone interested, is also known as the “Manhattan Contrarian“. That is a blog where I am moderated, but not yet banned.)

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Mercator maps, some Beatles fun

The above image illustrates what is called “Mercator Projection,” created in 1569 and named after Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594). On the right is the standard view we get from flat maps. But true map coordinates are based on a circular globe, so that longitudinal lines approach one another in distance until they meet a the poles. By making them equidistant on a flat map, we distort the size of landmasses closer to the equators. See how, on the map above, Greenland appears larger than Africa.  In reality (unless you are a flat earther, in which case, vamoose!), Africa is fourteen times the size of Greenland. This explains why when we flew to Nairobi last year it took nine hours from Paris. The two places appeared much closer on the map.

The explanation for this is that Mercator projection is more practical for navigation on the high seas, giving better angles … I’m repeating what I read and don’t really get that, but accept it, as Mercator maps are all about and in use.

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Honest brokers confront a contrarian

Manhattan Contrarian (attorney Francis Menton) posted, “Why Don’t Global lower Tropospheric Temperatures More Closely Track Atmospheric CO2 Levels?, that “The big news in 2025 for the climate scare was that all of a sudden this scare wasn’t such big news any more.” I left a comment to the effect that the whole CO2 scare was the product of PR, and that like buses, when this one goes away, another eschatological demon would soon follow. I did not use that word, “eschatological”, meaning end times, but I wish I had.

MC did a JFK assassination post, 51 years after the fact still harping on the original script of misdirection from CIA to Russians to Wall Street (he left out the guy under the manhole cover). I suggested that he also consider the umbrella man, who was giving the signal used in movies … “And … action!” I suggested that the assassination was faked, and at that point he decided that my comments needed moderation. This meant that they would appear, and eventually be approved. Today’s comment disappeared. I think that everyone having been been fooled by the CO2 scare is a bridge too far. (I think I stated at the end of the comment that Galileo was not done in only by peer review, but by inability to deal with PR.)

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God, Jesus, Mary … are dicks!

New Year is a time of reflection, at least for me. I don’t make resolutions, as I figure that if I need to make changes, and I often do, any date will do. But the following paragraphs deal with other matters beyond attempting to be captain of my ship

Prayer: I was taught to pray to Jesus for certain things and to the Virgin Mary for others. Usually, I was to be on my knees with hands facing each other and pointed upward. I did so all the way through grade school, though in high school I might have lost that habit. I don’t recall. At other times in my life, I took on the habit again, saying to myself “God love him/her,” God forgive him/her – and nothing incidental. I don’t recall every praying for something good for me, job, promotion, winning the affection of a girl, etc. I always figured that stuff was left to me to handle. But to this day I say on someone’s death “God rest his/her soul.” Sometimes I insert the word “troubled” before “soul”. I do so for the benefit of people suffering loss.

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Uh, duh …

If you did not see the game last night between the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, oops, Philadelphia Eagles, skip ahead in this video to 3:07 to see what I am writing about.

The game followed a pattern seen throughout this NFL season of late-game comebacks and nail-biting finishes. In this game the Bills were down 13-0 when they scored in the 4th quarter, but missed the extra point! That’s the first time this year for their very reliable kicker, Matt Prater. They then got the ball back with very little time left, and scored again! They only needed to kick an extra point to tie the game and send it into overtime, which I view as the natural coaching decision. Instead they opted to go for a two-point conversion. OK, many things can justify that decision. On the two-point conversion, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen has a man not just open, but wide open so that he only need loft the ball to complete a pass and win the game. Instead, he muffs the throw, hitting the turf three yards ahead of the runner. It was not natural, and he’s too seasoned to have blown it.

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Paul, would you please goddamn die already?

There’s a website called Lies are Unbekoming, and it seems to have a following judging by the number of likes and comments the post I am going to refer to generates. The post was brought to my attention by our friend Dave Klausler, who knows me well enough to know I would not be able to leave it alone. The post is called The Replacement: Examining the Evidence that Paul McCartney Died in 1966. In it the author, “Unbekoming”, recycles the evidence that has been churned now for over fifty years. To me, it looks like a reboot, a whole new generation of people being brought into the hoax. This would make Unbekoming an agent, and also makes me wonder if Paul will ever die for real so that they can put this psyop to bed.

Reading through the comments it is plain that people are as naive now as ever about the Beatles, how they came about, how they happened on their music and who played their instruments. It’s innocent chatter, but also shows off the power of a psyop to continually churn through the ages, bringing in new people. As psyops go, it’s a fun one. No one gets hurt. The work behind it showed off great talent in writing the songs, putting together album covers, and even musical references that played to the hoax. Searching for that kind of stuff can be scintillating fun, especially for kids. (No, of course I never did that!)

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Chinooks and high winds and power outages

We’ve had an unusual last few days here, with high winds blowing off the east slope of the Rockies. When we lived in Montana, they usually happened after a cold snap, and we called them “Chinooks”.

That’s a famous Charles M. Russell painting called Waiting for a Chinook. I had to grab it from a video put out by the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wy, as there are no still images of it available. I’m not sure I’m allowed to use it. It all makes sense, as artists have to protect their property, even dead ones (Russell: 1864-1926). But it’s ironic too. My dad grew up in Great Falls, Montana, and said that Russell was known to give out pencil and charcoal drawings in exchange for someone buying him a beer. Think, had someone the foresight, what they might be worth now.

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The Cave Allegory

“Behold!  human beings living in a sort of underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all across the den; they have been here from their childhood, and have their legs and neck chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them; for the chains are arranged in such a manner as to prevent them from turning round their heads. At a distance above and behind them the light of a fire is blazing, and between the fire in the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have before them, over which they show the puppets.

I see, he said.

And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying vessels, which appear over the wall; also figures of men and animals, made of wood and stone and various materials; as of the prisoners, as you would expect, are talking, and some of them are silent?

This is a strange image, he said, and they are strange prisoners.

Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the buyer throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

True, he said: how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?

And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would see only the shadows?

Yes he said.

And if they were able to talk with one another, with enough suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?”

The Republic of Plato, Book Seven

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On sheltering in place out of fear of what will happen for not believing in [the] virus[es]

Petra wrote a post in the aftermath of Bondi Beach, obviously knowing the event was fake, but also wondering about the phrase “Shelter in place.” I first saw that phrase in 2020, after the Colorado state government ended the lockdown after 30 days. I did not wonder about it then, but since I had not locked down and had no clue how to shelter myself from something that cannot be seen, tasted, smelled or felt, I ignored that too. Below is a wordy (moi?) comment I left for Petra, our friend and co-conspirator.
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Spinning balls …

This happened some time back, maybe a year or more. I subscribe to Climate Discussion Nexus, a Canadian outfit that covers Climate in detail. It’s host, Dr. John Robson, is a very good writer, crisp and often humorous. I really enjoy his work.

I am inclined to comment now and then when the spirit moves me, as you might guess. I did so one time on CDN, and my comment disappeared into the ether. Never having commented there before, they could not possibly know what an asshole I am, and so had no reason to ban me. I contacted them, politely, and asked what might have happened to the comment. I heard back directly from Robson. He had searched for my comment, asked to see it again by email, and suggested to me that my tone in contacting CDN did not indicate any troll-like traits. He simply did not know or understand why the comment did not post. I told him not to be concerned and also that my $8 (Canadian) monthly contribution would continue. “Whew!” he did not say.

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