The great and wonderous Borepatch writes into the Czar (and jeez, we hope we had his permission to reprint this; ah well, not much we can do about it now) to say:

Your outstanding post covered the subject of Dr. Leakey entirely satisfactorily, which means of course that I need to spout off.

My opinion is that the dumbest thing that Leakey said was the bit about persuading people on the evidence, that the “data is solid.” The scandal of Climate Science today is that the data is anything but:

– 70% of weather stations have thermometers that are not calibrated to within 2 degrees (C) of true, and yet are supposed to be measuring a fraction of a degree change per decade.

– Climate science is the only branch of science I know where the data is routinely changed (gridded, averaged, adjusted). Interesting that nobody ever seems to go back to see how the adjusted data compares with the raw data (quite poorly, actually).

– Climate science is the only branch of science I know where scientists consistently refuse to release their data. Nobody can check their work to see if mistakes or miscalculations (say, invalid statistical algorithms) are present.

– Climate science is the only branch of science where it is considered allowable for scientists to discard a portion of the data set and replace it with a different data set and not specify this in their paper. The scientists guilty of the notorious “hide the decline” episode are still at work, still receiving grant funding, and still authors of the IPCC Assessment Report.

Please excuse me if I’m not impressed with Leakey’s idea of using solid data to convince people. In Climate Science, as in Gandhi’s (likely apocryphal) comment when asked his opinion of Western Civilization, that would be a very nice thing indeed.

If you actually respect the data, and want to use the data to understand the world, Climate Science is a mess.

Certainly the Czar is not about to top that commentary.

But he will add one thing. Borepatch, for our readers who may not yet read his blog every day, is one of the very few folks who have actually read and analyzed a considerable portion of the climate data on both sides of the argument. The Czar thinks it safe to say that Borepatch is an agnostic on climate change. Not a denier, but a true άγνώστικος: a not-knower. And Borepatch hates not knowing, but what else can you do when we keep getting force-fed the idea of global warming.

The Gormogons take the related position that something seems to be happening with the global climate, but none of us will ever find out—not until the angry, insidious politicizing of the issue is stopped and the normal scientific method is resumed.

The one thing the Czar intended to say a couple of paragraphs back is a recurring, backstabbing fallacy that he keeps hearing from proponents of climate change: “My data is better than your data,” they say to people like Borepatch.

First, data is plural. Second, and more urgently, whose data? Roughly 99% of the people who admonish us skeptical folk have no claim to any data whatsoever: they are common people like us; they not only are not climatologists, they aren’t even scientists, and—unlike Borepatch—they haven’t read any of the data on either side whatsoever. They ain’t your data, people. Not until you done the work yourself. Until then, all you have is a guess you like better than the other guy’s.

The Czar has studied quite a bit of meterology and climatology in his days, and can do a fair amount of the basic math involved in these sciences. He cannot help but smile patronizingly at people that tell him he doesn’t know what he’s talking about; these are people who can barely read a thermometer, let alone demonstrate the dry adiabatic lapse rate. Before you admonish another person for not using good data, make damn sure you have done the necessary coursework—beyond seeing an Al Gore movie, that is, or reading bullet points off a website you hope makes you sound smart.

Borepatch, to put it mildly, has historically taken both sides of the argument quite seriously, and has literally run some of the most provocative data models. Over time, and with considerable degree of calm rationale, Borepatch has assessed that the global climate change studies, methods, and conclusions are warped and distorted to a political end. He has done the leg work. You should listen to him before you criticize his conclusions.

You can always pop on over to his site to see how much he has to say on the subject, especially if you want it presented in a clear, concise, and friendly manner.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.