Potty Training Christopher Monckton

BPSDB Who?

The Full Monckton

Four new videos

A trip to the potty

Jest for fun

Who?

For those who don’t know him, in addition to delusions of being an authority on climate science the self-christened “Potty Peer” is (as Coby Beck put it) a certifiable crackpot and a very colourful loon.

As such documenting his seemingly endless stream of errors, misrepresentations, frauds, lies etc would appear to be a cruel and completely unwarrented exercise in mocking the feeble and afflicted were it not for one other fact – he is one of the most  widely known of the professional so-called “climate skeptics.”

Further, for those desperate to embrace any idiocy that purports to refute climate science (eg the American Republican Party), Lord Monckton would appear to be one of the most credible of those professionals (undoubtedly based on his claim to being a member of the House of Lords, which he isn’t).

In a field (ie climate change denial) where raving silliness and blatant fraud are the stock in trade it would be difficult to pick a King of the Dungheap, but I submit that if one looks at the difference between outrageous, egregious ridiculousness and perceived credibility by the Denialosphere and some popular media, then Monkton is a clear frontrunner if not outright winner. Few others come even close to being so obviously, blatantly wrong while being still held up as credible authorities by the Deniers.

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Some much needed climate change humour

BPSDB Huge thanks to Brian D for reminding me about Marcus Brigstocke. I went to fetch the video that he refers to in his comment and was delighted to find a new one … it’s awesome

The Return Of Marcus Brigstocke

In a six minute piece a comedian debunks more Denier memes and gets more science and politics right than most major media manage in a year, and more than some have ever managed. (Never mind the self-styled climate science “authorities” that make up the Denialosphere)

In it he refers to yet another one that I missed, viz:

Dr Seuss at Copenhagen

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Climate change Deniers: dark minds lost in their own shadows

BPSDB

Argumentum ex bardus

Omnologos cannot logically exist

The lottery fallacy

Standing on their heads

Dark Minds

Potentia ex verum

Getting to the point of this post requires walking through some rather tedious Denier thinking and I apologise for that. I ask you to bear with me because I believe the walk through is rather revelatory and I think of some value. Even so, I will try to keep it short and to the point.

Argumentum Ex Bardus

Through October and November Omnologos created a list of events and circumstances related to climate change and climate science that he considered improbably coincidental, and as such offered it as clear evidence as to Why AGW Is Logically Impossible.

Discarding all of the points that are obviously false, pure conjecture, value laden subjective opinion, completely irrelevant and/or just silly (ie most of them) one is left with a small collection of arguably objective facts about our current moment in history. (I should note that whether you chuck any out or not changes nothing … as will be shown it’s all a load of idiotic rubbish regardless.)

His argument is that since these coincidences are extremely improbable, their existence is proof that anthropogenic climate change is not real. Here are three of his examples:

1. Relatively widespread availability of computer power is just enough strong to simulate the right climate projections on a multi-decadal scale
2. Climate science is developed just beyond the minimal level needed to understand how to simulate the right climate projections on a decadal scale
3. Novel statistical approaches devised just in time, and correct from the get-go, for Mann’s Hockey Stick to emerge from the jumble of dendro- and other proxy data

Omnologos cannot logically exist

The flawed nonthinking of this argument is easily shown by applying the same lack of logic to a perfectly mundane subject, eg the existence of Omnologos.

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Albert the Knowledge Penguin

BPSDB

Darryl Cunningham Investigates

If you haven’t seen it yet, head over to “Darryl Cunningham Investigates” and check out his climate change comic.

Maybe a “comic” is not your preferred way of learning, but for some it is far more effective, so this is a great tool to have at hand and share. Cunningham is still working on clarifying some of the science and providing all of his sources, but that will just turn ‘good’ into ‘excellent.’

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The science behind a climate change headline

BPSDB NB: Nov 10, World Science Day for Peace and Development

Rachel Pike: The science behind a climate headline

In 4 minutes, atmospheric chemist Rachel Pike provides a glimpse of the massive scientific effort behind the bold headlines on climate change, with her team — one of thousands who contributed.

Many of the more idiotic climate change Denier Fables grossly misrepresent the vast scale and scope of the science and scientific evidence underlying what we know about climate change. Let’s have a look at some of those fables and how they compare to reality.

“The IPCC scientists blah blah …”

If ever there were a confession that the person making this claim knows absolutely nothing about climate science:

“The IPCC does not itself commission or conduct research, but analyzes and weighs findings by scientists in many nations.

The IPCC: A Guide For Journalists

…Doh!

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Climate change Denier conspiracy theories explained

BPSDB

I blame Bad Astronomy for this one, which is odd because for this sort of thing Frankbi is the usual culprit. Phil Plait is right though, this is too good not to share with a community plagued by the conspiracy nuts.

Needless to say, just as with Climate Denier Crackpot Index and Denier Conspiracy Theories: More Paranoid Than Thou the description fits perfectly, presumably because the inhabitants of Wingnuttia are more or less of a muchness …

From Cracked.com

Just The Facts

1. The average conspiracy theorist will argue with NASA, Nobel-prize winners and every expert in the world despite having fewer qualifications than the average fry cook.
2. Conspiracy theorists view logical argument as cheating.
3. Like pissing fetishes and tentacle rape comics, conspiracy theories are a problem made much worse by the Internet.
4. Never assume malice when incompetence will do.

and so on. Conspiracy Theories | Cracked.com

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Climate World Wars II & III

PSDBI blogged about the CBC radio series Ideas presenting Gwynne Dyer’s “Climate Wars” before, but now that all three episodes are up I wanted to mention it again.

Climate Wars Podcasts

Even if you do not have time to listen to them now, download them now as Part One will be expiring in less than a week, and Parts Two and Three in each subsequent week.

If you imagine that climate change is going to be anything but horrific, and a lot sooner than most people imagine, then the series is a must listen. It will disabuse you of that illusion very quickly.

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