Google vs Rupert

Google CEO tells Rupert, don’t blame us. Maybe the gubnit can help poor Rupey.

Nothing to see here, move along

Climategate? What Climategate? It’s not in the papers. Well hardly. Certainly not on the front page of any of Rupert’s rags.

However.

Credit where credit’s due…

Stewart was brilliant, until he tried to counter, backtrack, save his arse, balance (ha!) it out. So lame. For starters, polar bear numbers have been increasing as we all know.

But is that just due to the decrease of hunting?

When restrictions on polar bear harvests were put in place in the early 1970s, populations rebounded. That situation was a conservation success story … but the current threat to polar bears is entirely different, and more dire.

Today’s polar bears are facing the rapid loss of the sea-ice habitat that they rely on to hunt, breed, and, in some cases, to den. Last summer alone, the melt-off in the Arctic was equal to the size of Alaska, Texas, and the state of Washington combined—a shrinkage that was not predicted to happen until 2040.

Interesting, no time stamp on that link. So which “last summer” are they talking about? Interesting, just google polar bear population increase and top of the page is that mob.

Rapid loss, eh? What about the gains?

Overall, that graph looks pretty ordinary… especially when one considers other estimates for polar bear numbers. Oops! The yellow line vs the red line. It’s a travesty they could not explain.

Mitch Taylor, Dr. Mitchell Taylor…

Polar Bear Biologist,
Department of the Environment,
Government of Nunavut , Igloolik , Nunavut , Canada

… quoted in that report who also notes:

One polar bear population (western Hudson Bay ) has declined since the 1980s and the reproductive success of females in that area seems to have decreased. We are not certain why, but it appears that ecological conditions in the mid-1980s were exceptionally good.

Climate change is having an effect on the west Hudson population of polar bears, but really, there is no need to panic. Of the 13 populations of polar bears in Canada , 11 are stable or increasing in number. They are not going extinct, or even appear to be affected at present.

It is noteworthy that the neighbouring population of southern Hudson Bay does not appear to have declined, and another southern population ( Davis Strait ) may actually be over-abundant.

And as for the hunting?

I understand that people who do not live in the north generally have difficulty grasping the concept of too many polar bears in an area. People who live here have a pretty good grasp of what that is like to have too many polar bears around.

But since everyone loves piccies…

Image thanks to The Roanske Slant.

You know what’s also interesting, though? From bing’s overy-humbled – thanks to Vista – comp…

Yep, the blog American Thinker is in the google NEWS searches, for – polar bear population increase -

All settled now? Fuel the jet. Go, Kevin, bon voyage!

Ahhhh…

Meanwhile, Australia’s (Rudd Labor) government broadcaster prefers to stay at precisely 1 hit compared to google’s 20+ million hits re “Climategate”. And the ABC’s “hit” was in comments.

UPDATE

Your ABC has finally picked up it’s game and is up to – wait for it, waaaaiiit, steady on, grab the cat, easy tiger…

TWO HITS!!!

Meanwhile, Google lumbers around with a paltry 27 million.

Then why bother?

President Barack Obama’s administration says a July 2011 target date to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan is not set in stone.

Plot choices revealed

Why didn’t Darth Vader ever train any Siths of his own? Because they would have had to call him Master Vader.

Genetic Science Poised to Destroy Political Correctness

If you are – as I am – a readerof John Derbyshire, then this story will come as no shock.

“Human geneticists have reached a private crisis of conscience, and it will become public knowledge in 2010. The crisis has depressing health implications and alarming political ones. In a nutshell: the new genetics will reveal much less than hoped about how to cure disease, and much more than feared about human evolution and inequality, including genetic differences between classes, ethnicities and races.”

Just a guess, but I don’t think these scientists would be squirming if, say, there was proof that the Jews weren’t the Chosen People descended from Abraham. Like I say, just a guess.

“When sequencing costs drop within a few years below $1,000 per genome, researchers in Europe, China and India will start huge projects with vast sample sizes, sophisticated bioinformatics, diverse trait measures and detailed family structures. (American bioscience will prove too politically squeamish to fund such studies.)”

Gee, I wonder why the leftist-dominated scientific and political community in the US would be too, “squeamish” to fund such objective and purely scientific research?

“The trouble is, the resequencing data will reveal much more about human evolutionary history and ethnic differences than they will about disease genes. Once enough DNA is analysed around the world, science will have a panoramic view of human genetic variation across races, ethnicities and regions. We will start reconstructing a detailed family tree that links all living humans, discovering many surprises about mis-attributed paternity and covert mating between classes, castes, regions and ethnicities.”

Ah, that sheds a tad of light on the “issues” involved. There is a danger of slaying sacred cows.

“If the shift from GWAS to sequencing studies finds evidence of such politically awkward and morally perplexing facts, we can expect the usual range of ideological reactions, including nationalistic retro-racism from conservatives and outraged denial from blank-slate liberals. The few who really understand the genetics will gain a more enlightened, live-and-let-live recognition of the biodiversity within our extraordinary species—including a clearer view of likely comparative advantages between the world’s different economies.”

Yes, the inherent racism of conservatives – barely covered by a thin veneer of feigned civility *cough*bullshit*cough* – will be unleashed by scientific facts, and the poor leftards will again deny that their worldview has been shattered.

Only one of those two things are true.

Only superstitious idiots fear knowledge and understanding, wherever they come down on the political spectrum.

Monkton’s book: Climategate: Caught green handed!

Yes, many other bloggers have linked to it already, but it’s that important, nobody should miss it.

A must read.

UPDATE

Iowahawk’s explanation of how data was massaged.  And no, he’s not being satirical this time ’round, but quite serious.

UPDATE II

Yet another idiot with his head in the sand. Either that or… do the math. Reckons <strike>we’re</strike> they’re half-way there in regards to striking a deal in Hopenchangen. And it’s Lord Stern, climate advisor to the UK goverment – apparently an “expert” according to ninemsn – saying it!

Copenhagen: And all this is to save two lousy degrees. Whoop-di-doo.

Kevin Rudd lands in Copenhagen ahead of summit

Houston, the sparrow has landed.

In class recently

This part of the class involved me asking the question, and the kids calling out the answer…

bing: Let’s play soccer!

One kid: Sorry, I can’t. I am a cold.

More momets here, here, here, and here.

Belated Bolt

#1 Going Googe-eyed over Copenhagen… 16.5 million Climategate hits, and still most of the MSM keeps brain farting.

#2 Psychoanalyse the dupe instead… stupid Leftist can’t figure out why we think AGW is crap.

#3 Climategate; not news to me, says Shaviv…Top scientis not surprised by Climategate. Post of the day IMHO.

#4 Climategate – even Jon Stewart understands, but doesn’t absorb

#5 Reef alarmist bleached again

#6 Still one to go, though… about that numbnut Iraqi shoe guy.

#7 Climategate: ABC filters working beautifully… It’s up to 21.4 million Google hits, one ABC hit.

#8 A much more useful Tiger… something about Tiger and interactive news, journalists reporting what should be, not what is.

#9 Gatto does Melbourne university proud

#10 Scientists muzzled in Australia… CSIRO not letting Clive Splash publish. He’s resigned and called for a senate inquiry.

#11 None so blind… Climate change alarmists.

#12 November warmer… a couple of graphs with going up and down trends.

#13 Turnbull’s revenge looks more like suicide… Leaked emails. We’re not sure who leaked them. Bolt plays it safe, legally.

DOWNDATE

#14 (from yesterday) Climategate – read all about it… Monkton,s book

Daily Howler: “Scientists” Discover All Men View Pr0n (Updated)

I swear, these must be newly-unemployed climate “scientists”:

“Researchers were conducting a study comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users.

But their project stumbled at the first hurdle when they failed to find a single man who had not been seen it.

“We started our research seeking men in their 20s who had never consumed pornography,” said Professor Simon Louis Lajeunesse. “We couldn’t find any.”

Although hampered in its original aim, the study did examined the habits of those young men who used pornography – which would appear to be all of them.”

This was reported with all ernest seriousness by the Telegraph, which made me laugh all the more.

Vika says, “Duh!”

Updated for Vince (Borderline NSFW).

The silent majority

You know, was pondering just before, between myself and a couple of others, why this week’s “experiment” wasn’t as successful as hoped. To be sure, having everyone comment on Bolt’s posts here was well, as they say, “Tell him he’s dreaming.”

But it still made me wonder, that with such a good blog – the links, the mix, the blogroll, those extra pages if one looks up to the top of this page, the support, dare I say the one-stop-shop factor – and the posts, which IMHO, give a generally insightful, yet previously unread perspective  on what’s what,  and yes, with that laissez fare attitude… why the relatively low hit count? What are we doing right? Yet, more importantly, what are we doing wrong?

But then, this certain article, and yes, by one of the big boys, was stumbled upon.

The single most important news event of 2009 was the emergence of The Virtual Newsroom. A newsroom run by a virtual army of conservative journalists famous and unknown, their individual and collective impact multiplied exponentially by millions of Internet users, radio listeners, readers and television viewers.

Who is famous? Who’ll get famous? Who’ll get infamous? Which blogs will rise? Which blogs will fall? Which blogs will be rewarded? Which won’t? Which will, essentially, get latched on to, which won’t… despite delivering basically the same content?

Regardless. There’s so much activity going on that it can only be a good thing.

It dawned – well not dawned, but, rather was confirmed – that whatever individual blog is popular or not, finally, finally, the silent majority is clearing their throat (is this why Rupert wants to cash in?).

I’m 30. That gives a certain perspective compared to those who are 40, 50, older, or, yes, 20, or younger. I grew up witnessing the decline of the silent majority, only to be shouted down by often violent  Leftists.

True. Where once our views didn’t even need to be said, the secret ballot was enough, well, it’s heartening to to see that the silent majority has realised that the infestation of our media, schools, universities and politics has become too much. And that we must not be silent anymore. And that means all of us, whether you speak up here or somewhere else.

And so, whilst it’s a bummer that Tizona’s isn’t the most popular blog in the world, which it should be (that’s a joke, relax…kinda), it’s most heartening to know that we, and you, and all of the once silent majority, are clawing back the shouty, wrong, Left.

One can only hope the sacred silence will reign again.

But in the meantime…

Getting catty

Been one helluva week so far. Surely some are getting…

What Obama doesn’t want you to hear

In the game of hearts and minds, the following is what Obi doesn’t want you thinking or feeling.

No one understands this better than Barack Obama and his team, who won the 2008 election in part because they were better storytellers than the opposition. The pro-Obama narrative featured an almost mystically talented young idealist who stood for change in a disciplined and thoughtful way. This easily outpowered the anti-Obama narrative, featuring an opportunistic Chicago pol with dubious relationships who was more liberal than he was letting on.

A year into his presidency, however, Obama’s gift for controlling his image shows signs of faltering. As Washington returns to work from the Thanksgiving holiday, there are several anti-Obama storylines gaining momentum.
Enchilada.

Government to “help” newspapers?

The US Free Trade Commission – yes, a wing of governemnt -  is thinking of stepping in to “help” out media companies, namely online newspapers which are having trouble turning a buck, namely ’cause most people don’t bother clicking on the ads. Still, reading the article, it may not be as bad as perhaps first reactions tell you it is – may. It seems a lot of it could be easing off on taxes, anti-trust leislation, and cross-media ownership. And that’s pretty good at first glance.

Of course the dinosaur of the industry, Rupert Murdoch,  thinks online newspapers will die unless people are made to pay.  He reckons readers should cough up the cash because, wait for it, “Good journalism is an expensive commodity.”

Why yes, Rupert, yes it is. And that’s why your papers should remain free. Apart from a few standout journalists here and there, most newspapers, and not just his, are riddled with propaganda, puff pieces, lazy investigative work, and stuff many non-journalists can do quite easily. Take bloggers for example.

Is Rupert jealous? Frustrated? That in many instances, the blogosphere has shown up the MSM? Either way, if all news outlets made us pay, it would spell the end of – or at best a very damaging blow to - blogging.  He realises bloggers feed off the media – for free – quite often, but doesn’t he also realise the media feeds of the blogosphere – for free -, too?

Ariana Huffington isn’t impressed.

“It’s time for traditional media companies to stop whining.”

Ditto.

PS Rupert, why don’t you charge more for the ads? Just like on TV, nobody really wants to look at them. So why do TV ads cost so much, yet online ads at major newspapers don’t comparitively? And besides, you’re not really short of a buck.

From my Death of Blogging post:

“The publisher of The Wall Street Journal, The Australian and Dow Jones Newswires posted a loss of $US203 million ($241m), or US8 cents a share, for the quarter, compared with earnings of $US1.1 billion, or US43c a share, a year ago.

So financial crisis aside, which screwed everyone, and when News Ltd was still providing a ‘free’ online news service, Rupert made 1.1 BILLION dollars… and yet he still wants to charge us! And when many of us work for free for his blogs!

I smell a rat, a rat so big Left-wing bloggers should be concerned, too.

If Murdoch wants to bury his own ‘newspapers’, fine. Actually… no, because it will bury a Golden Era where the public was no longer restricted to but a few news sources but could freely roam the globe thanks to the WWW and see this perspective up against that perspective in ways past generations could only have dreamed of.

And now Murdoch (if his business model is successful and other outlets follow suit [even though other outlets have FAILED already trying so]) wants to ruin that, which will ruin the blogosphere, and most likely, seriously hurt his business.

Mr Murdoch’s comments came as News Corp reported US$680 million in writedowns and other one-off charges largely related to the company’s social networking site, MySpace.
So get rid of MySpace. Facebook kicks its arse anyway.”

No more counting Russia’s missiles

Republicans blame Democrats. Democrats blame Republicans. I blame global warming.

Finally, it’s mainstream

With thanks to you know who… and Dave.

Climategate boss, Phil Jones, steps down

What a ripper of a day! Cop that KRudd, you little snake, trying to strike a deal in Copenhagen that will make the UN more powerful than ever just before you try to move in on it.

H/T Jane at Tim’s.

UPDATE II

Penn State university, home of Michael “hockey stick” Mann, is also launching an investigation into Climategate. Good.

US Senator, James Inhofe calls for a probe, too.

ETS bill defeated!

Woo-hoo!

UPDATE – same link

KRudd now has a double dissolution trigger.

UPDATE II – same link.

Krudd will try again in February, after the break (that’s considerably longer than most of us get).

UPDATE III

Bolt’s take.

Tim’s take.

UPDATE IV

Tony Abbott is now on twitter. It was announced on his Facebook page.

With thanks to Tizona editor-in-hiatus, Spot the Dog.

Wednesday Bolt

#1 The game suddenly changes

#2 Being green gives you a licence to lie

#3 Column – At last a fight over this mad tax

#4 Column – The Age of Seeming

#5 Hand it to hustling Gore

#6 Climategate: two investigated as coverup exposed

#7 Rudd’s great  green tax is verruckt

# 8 Howard made them lousy artists… Louis Nowra agrees Australian film suck – and blames John Howard <i>groan</i>.

# 9 Combet’s angry eyes… about Labor’s increasingly desperate calls labelling us as  extremists and deniers.

# 10 Running scared… more about #9

# 11 Obama orders a fight-retreat in Afghanistan… on how Obama’s doing what he oppsed when Bush did it – a troop surge – but putting a stupid timetable on it. So that makes him a hypocrite and a moron.  More from yesterday.

# 12 Climate gate: Keep spreading the news… one I missed yesterday. Thirteen million hits on google now.

UPDATE

Does numbering them help?

UPDATE II – re #11

What will the troop surge do for Obama’s approval ratings on this issue, which have taken a beating the past few months?

UPDATE III

Re #11 Success is the real exit strategy.

The Age declares war

Bolt on how The Age, unable to call KRudd out as the liar he is, as demonstrated by Andrew on a number of occasions, takes a mere four hours to call Abbott out on his “first big lie.

Pathetic. What a bunch of ratbags, and what yet another example of what real journalism is not.

UPDATE

Abbott’s 7:30 report interview is up.

UPDATE II – post watching the 7:30 report.

This would be cliche if it were only us saying it and Kerry not consistently doing it; if only he were so tough on the Labor pollies. That said, Abbott handled him well. Not bad for a first interview, though he shouldn’t have apologised for his past behaviour – although Bolt refugees aren’t the only demographic he has to appeal to.

Abbott and the rest of them need to zero-in on Climategate. It’s a perfect exit strategy from Howard’s ETS. Behind closed doors, one can only hope they’re considering this. They should bite the bullet and do it. It’s a gamble, but their best improbable shot of snatching the next election. No more dilly-dallying – which was still evident in tonight’s interview. Of course Labor are using that FAR right nonsense lingo. It’s effective at the moment but it shows they’re scared to be coming up with such emotive sound grabs so early.

Taxes don’t change temperature.

Climategate: More CRU= TGP Pr0n!

I must say, this is the best “CRUdGate” story yet:

“Let’s start at the top, and bear with me.

If the climate and recent changes are not unprecedented, then there’s nothing to do. Let’s go to the pub.

If it is unprecedented, then we need to know why. If we don’t know if it is unprecedented or if we don’t know why, we need to stop here until we can find out.
If it is unprecedented but it’s not us, then we need to question seriously if there is anything that we can do about it and the answer to that is very very likely to be “no”.

If it is us, we then to move into economics. Will the damage outweigh the benefit?

And even if the damage does outweigh the benefit, we still need to consider if the cost of stopping the climate change at source is less than the cost of adapting to the problem to minimise the damage.

And even if the mitigation does cost less than adaptation, we need to ask if our only option for mitigation is to subborn all our freedom to a putative benevolent world government.
Only if you can answer “yes” all the way down that chain can you get to Copenhagen. One misstep and you are looking at adaptation, either because we shouldn’t do anything, or it’s the best thing to do or the alternative is so appallingly ghastly, depending on which route you took to get there.”

You simply must read the rest! It’s as good as TGP!

Wholesome.

Tuesday Bolt

Abbott wins… Bolt goes in hard – 14 updates and counting.

Rudd is a denier

Just say sorry for your wind… heheh, cheeky. Terry McCrann adocates a National Apology on Climate Change.

Let the peasants walk… all about stupid crap like banning ice water in restaurants and other totalitarian sui-fellation – advocated by a top ICCP climate scientist (go figure)

The bad war was better for us… an Iraq/Afghanistan piece.