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The following was recently posted by shock jock Andrew Bolt who has just been given his own TV program by Australia's richest person, mining billionaire Gina Rinehart. For those overseas – Greg Combet is our Federal Minister for Climate Change. For those wondering why the reference to "Redneck Wonderland" go here and here.
Note that the 'experts' that he refers to are unqualified and unpublished in the peer-reviewed literature associated with the majority of expert areas behind their claims. Good choice Andrew – I guess they match your expertise on climate change and its impacts. Wouldn't want to have a real expert disagree with you!
Bob Carter, David Evans, Stewart Franks and Bill Kininmonth identify 10 errors in Climate Change Greg Combet's big speech last week on his carbon dioxide tax.
Go here for their explanations, but these are the 10 falsehoods Combet uttered:
1. The evidence of atmospheric warming is very strong, and the potential for dangerous climate impacts is high. The scientific advice is that carbon (sic) pollution (sic) is the cause.
2. Globally, 2010 was the warmest year on record, with 2001 to 2010 the warmest decade. 2010 is the 34th consecutive year with global temperatures above the 20th-century average.
3. In Australia, each decade since the 1940s has been warmer than the preceding decade. With rising temperatures we can expect to see more extreme weather events, including more frequent and intense droughts, floods and bushfires.
4. The environmental consequences translate readily into economic costs – as well as potential negative impacts on water security, coastal development, infrastructure, agriculture, and health.
5. Professor Will Steffen, a leading expert in the climate science, has advised the Multi-Party Committee on Climate Change that there is 100% certainty that the earth is warming, and that there is a very high level of certainty it will continue to warm unless efforts are made to reduce the levels of carbon (sic) pollution (sic) being sent into the atmosphere.
6. It is in our national interest to take action on climate change. The national interest case is clear.
7. Climate change is an environmental problem with an economic solution.
8. Just as the 1980s reforms laid down the bedrock of our current prosperity, pricing carbon (sic) will ensure that the Australian economy of the 21st century remains globally competitive.
9. Intergenerational equity is a key determinant of long-term economic policy making. Our obligation is to leave the world a better place, not to pass on the problems we found too difficult to deal with to our grandchildren and to their grandchildren.
10. Australia is one of the world's top 20 polluters and we release more pollution per person than any other country in the developed world – more than the US. Not only is it in our national interest to act, we have a responsibility to do so.
Someone has claimed that Bob Carter, David Evans, Stewart Franks and Bill Kininmonth have published in the peer-reviewed literature and that I should therefore apologise or issue a correction.
I will do neither. But here is a clarification and some evidence.
Bob Carter, Dave Evans, Stewart Franks and Bill Kininmonth have not published their scientific propositions (that underpin the 10 putative 'errors' Bolt has pointed to) in the peer-reviewed literature. This is crucial if we are to separate fact from opinion.
Let's take the first allegation. According to these individuals, they say that Minister Combet was wrong to have said the following:
The evidence of atmospheric warming is very strong, and the potential for dangerous climate impacts is high. The scientific advice is that carbon (sic) pollution (sic) is the cause.
According to Carter et al., however:
Atmospheric warming and cooling happen the whole time naturally, and global temperature has been level or cooling gently for the last ten years; and that despite the fact that a quarter of all human emissions of carbon dioxide, over all of history, have occurred since 1998.
And so on … anthropogenic climate change is not happening … read the rest here.
Given such strong opinions, you would expect that the 4 experts would have published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature extensively on subjects like climate change, presenting data from their own expertise that support arguments that climate change is or is not happening.
Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.
Let us go and explore the Gold standard for collecting and collating peer-reviewed scientific information, Thomson Reuters Institute for Scientific Information, and see how many times that these four 'experts' have published in the expert literature since 1999. If they were bone fide experts then they would be listed in the ISI Web of Knowledge many times under papers in which they have tested their ideas with the expert scientific community.
This is what you find when you explore the data for real experts. For example, Prof David Karoly of the University of Melbourne (lead author within the IPCC) has had over 10 publications since 1999 that directly address his conclusions regarding climate change and atmospheric physics. Prof Lesley Hughes, who is an expert on the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems in Australia, has 32 peer-reviewed publications since 1999. And these individuals have gone through the very stringent reviewing process of the IPCC several times over. This process helps ensure scientific rigour within the evidence collected and the conclusions drawn. It also ensures that the general conclusions drawn reflect the scientific community and not a gut feeling or unsubstantiated opinion.
Here it is what happens when you search for peer-reviewed papers by the 'experts' listed by Bolt on climate change in the ISI Web of knowledge database.
- 1. Searching for articles by 'R M Carter' since 1999: One publication on climate variability which later found to be seriously flawed and misleading. Full details, go here and here. So – the number of peer-reviewed articles that have passed scientific muster in the relevant field of climate change since 1999 is 0.
- Searching for articles by Evans, D (apparently a past consultant to the Greenhouse Office). Searching was complicated by his name being rather universal, so I restricted the field to in peer-reviewed paper by Evans that mentioned the word 'climate'. Number of articles since 1999 in the peer-reviewed literature on climate change is 0.
- I had to also restrict the field for Franks S (a hydrological engineer at the University of Newcastle). Searching for articles by Franks with the word 'climate' yielded one article "Regional hydrological impacts of climate change – hydroclimatic variability" which doesn't present or test the idea that climate change is or is not happening or any of the other of the notions from the list of 10 errors. So, the number of articles by Assoc Prof Franks since 1999 that involve peer review of his claims that climate change is not happening is 0.
- Searching for articles by Kininmonth W was a lot easier given the more unique nature of his name and yielded no peer-reviewed research literature. Again, however, the number of peer-reviewed papers generated by Kininmonth since 1999 that test his claims that climate change is not happening is 0.
That makes 0, 0, 0 and 0.
So, on issues like atmospheric physics or impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems, Minister Combet is correct in listening closely to David Karoly and not Bob Carter, and listening closely to Lesley Hughes and not Stewart Franks.
61 Responses to The latest from the 'Redneck-Wonderland'.
Someone wrote the following in our staff room:
As inextricable fascination with something you hate.
eg. Andrew Bolt's writing.
That's the key to his success, I fear; like Pauline Hanson, he appeals to the lowest common denominator, but unlike Pauline, he is part of the media / entertainment, so also attracts people with a fully functional brain through hathos.
In all respects it's a lose-lose situation; follow his work and rebut the nonsense – he gets attention. Ignore it and it still gets attention from those he naturally appeals to.
I've had to, for my own sanity, ignore his work. Everything that man talks about remotely environmentally orientated sickens me for it's sheer ignorance.
curious says:
How is calling people "red necks" not racial vilification?
OveHG says:
What, lyrics from a Midnight Oil song about people with sunburned necks? Hardly racial vilification. Not my words, anyway.
How is "red neck" remotely racial in any context? It's not genetic, but at best a loose demographic label with many potential meanings.
OveHG says:
Exactly. Racial … no. It does, however, have the connotation of 'ignorant' … which is apt here.
Every so often the only word that comes to mind fails to do the meaning justice..
I just followed the "Go here for their explanations" link. That these apparently scientifically educated blokes can still write, mid 2011, some of the most outdated denial memes is staggering – 'ignorant' just isn't strong enough.
MarcH says:
Just checking, are you saying Bob Carter, David Evans, Stewart Franks and Bill Kininmonth are unpublished in the peer reviewed literature?
Seems their CVs don't support this contention. Ove, if this is what you meant it seems an apology and a correction is in order.
OveHG says:
Neither. See the update above. When you go into the scientific literature and ask the question, how many peer-reviewed publications have Bob Carter, David Evans, Stewart Franks and Bill Kininmonth have that have tested their claims as listed by Andrew Bolt, the big number is 0.
Do it yourself, go to IS Web of Knowledge and search for these individuals as I have done in the update listed above. Then repeat the exercise for Prof Lesley Hughes, Prof David Karoly or other experts within the field of climate change and its impacts. You can even search for me and see if I'm a credible expert or not.
MarcH says:
Ove, I searched the link you provided for your name and got the following response:
Your search – Ove Hoegh-Guldberg – did not match any documents.
No pages were found containing "Ove Hoegh-Guldberg".
OveHG says:
You must be using it incorrectly. When I do the same search on the ISI Web of Knowledge (using the web of science option) and put in "Hoegh-Guldberg" I get 154 articles that I have published since 1999. Here are the top 50:
1. Title: Coral reef ecosystems and anthropogenic climate change
Author(s): Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE Volume: 11 Pages: S215-S227 Supplement: Suppl. 1 Published: MAR 2011
Times Cited: 1
2. Title: Revisiting climate thresholds and ecosystem collapse
Author(s): Mumby PJ, Iglesias-Prieto R, Hooten AJ, et al.
Source: FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 94-96 Published: MAR 2011
Times Cited: 0
3. Title: Regulation of Apoptotic Mediators Reveals Dynamic Responses to Thermal Stress in the Reef Building Coral Acropora millepora
Author(s): Pernice M, Dunn SR, Miard T, et al.
Source: PLOS ONE Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Article Number: e16095 Published: JAN 24 2011
Times Cited: 0
4. Title: Climate change impedes scleractinian corals as primary reef ecosystem engineers
Author(s): Wild C, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Naumann MS, et al.
Source: MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH Volume: 62 Issue: 2 Pages: 205-215 Published: 2011
Times Cited: 0
5. Title: Complex Diel Cycles of Gene Expression in Coral-Algal Symbiosis
Author(s): Levy O, Kaniewska P, Alon S, et al.
Source: SCIENCE Volume: 331 Issue: 6014 Pages: 175-175 Published: JAN 14 2011
Times Cited: 0
6. Title: Gene expression profiles of cytosolic heat shock proteins Hsp70 and Hsp90 from symbiotic dinoflagellates in response to thermal stress: possible implications for coral bleaching
Author(s): Rosic NN, Pernice M, Dove S, et al.
Source: CELL STRESS & CHAPERONES Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Pages: 69-80 Published: JAN 2011
Times Cited: 0
7. Title: Shallow-water wave lensing in coral reefs: a physical and biological case study
Author(s): Veal CJ, Carmi M, Dishon G, et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY Volume: 213 Issue: 24 Pages: 4304-4312 Published: DEC 15 2010
Times Cited: 0
8. Title: Increasing the accuracy of surface area estimation using single wax dipping of coral fragments
Author(s): Veal CJ, Carmi M, Fine M, et al.
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Pages: 893-897 Published: DEC 2010
Times Cited: 0
9. Title: The Capricorn Eddy: a prominent driver of the ecology and future of the southern Great Barrier Reef
Author(s): Weeks SJ, Bakun A, Steinberg CR, et al.
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Pages: 975-985 Published: DEC 2010
Times Cited: 0
10. Title: Presence of Symbiodinium spp. in macroalgal microhabitats from the southern Great Barrier Reef
Author(s): Venera-Ponton DE, Diaz-Pulido G, Rodriguez-Lanetty M, et al.
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Pages: 1049-1060 Published: DEC 2010
Times Cited: 0
11. Title: Analysis of evolutionarily conserved innate immune components in coral links immunity and symbiosis
Author(s): Kvennefors ECE, Leggat W, Kerr CC, et al.
Source: DEVELOPMENTAL AND COMPARATIVE IMMUNOLOGY Volume: 34 Issue: 11 Pages: 1219-1229 Published: NOV 2010
Times Cited: 0
12. Title: Biodiversity, climate change, and ecosystem services
Author(s): Mooney H, Larigauderie A, Cesario M, et al.
Source: CURRENT OPINION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Pages: 46-54 Published: OCT 2009
Times Cited: 6
13. Title: Making a Model Meaningful to Coral Reef Managers in a Developing Nation: a Case Study of Overfishing and Rock Anchoring in Indonesia
Author(s): Maynard JA, Anthony KRN, Afatta S, et al.
Source: CONSERVATION BIOLOGY Volume: 24 Issue: 5 Pages: 1316-1326 Published: OCT 2010
Times Cited: 1
14. Title: Dangerous shifts in ocean ecosystem function?
Author(s): Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: ISME JOURNAL Volume: 4 Issue: 9 Pages: 1090-1092 Published: SEP 2010
Times Cited: 0
15. Title: Acute tissue death (white syndrome) affects the microenvironment of tabular Acropora corals
Author(s): Andersen SB, Vestergaard ML, Ainsworth TD, et al.
Source: AQUATIC BIOLOGY Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 99-104 Published: 2010
Times Cited: 0
16. Title: A comparative study of methods for surface area and three-dimensional shape measurement of coral skeletons
Author(s): Veal CJ, Holmes G, Nunez M, et al.
Source: LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY-METHODS Volume: 8 Pages: 241-253 Published: MAY 2010
Times Cited: 1
17. Title: Paleo-perspectives on ocean acidification
Author(s): Pelejero C, Calvo E, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION Volume: 25 Issue: 6 Pages: 332-344 Published: JUN 2010
Times Cited: 4
18. Title: The Impact of Climate Change on the World's Marine Ecosystems
Author(s): Hoegh-Guldberg O, Bruno JF
Source: SCIENCE Volume: 328 Issue: 5985 Pages: 1523-1528 Published: JUN 18 2010
Times Cited: 9
19. Title: Genetic Divergence across Habitats in the Widespread Coral Seriatopora hystrix and Its Associated Symbiodinium
Author(s): Bongaerts P, Riginos C, Ridgway T, et al.
Source: PLOS ONE Volume: 5 Issue: 5 Article Number: e10871 Published: MAY 27 2010
Times Cited: 2
20. Title: The relative contribution of dinoflagellate photosynthesis and stored lipids to the survivorship of symbiotic larvae of the reef-building corals
Author(s): Harii S, Yamamoto M, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: MARINE BIOLOGY Volume: 157 Issue: 6 Pages: 1215-1224 Published: JUN 2010
Times Cited: 1
21. Title: Assessing the 'deep reef refugia' hypothesis: focus on Caribbean reefs
Author(s): Bongaerts P, Ridgway T, Sampayo EM, et al.
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Pages: 309-327 Published: JUN 2010
Times Cited: 3
22. Title: Bacterial Communities of Two Ubiquitous Great Barrier Reef Corals Reveals Both Site- and Species-Specificity of Common Bacterial Associates
Author(s): Kvennefors ECE, Sampayo EM, Ridgway T, et al.
Source: PLOS ONE Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Article Number: e10401 Published: APR 29 2010
Times Cited: 1
23. Title: Stramenopile Microorganisms Associated with the Massive Coral Favia sp.
Author(s): Siboni N, Rasoulouniriana D, Ben-Dov E, et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF EUKARYOTIC MICROBIOLOGY Volume: 57 Issue: 3 Pages: 236-244 Published: MAY-JUN 2010
Times Cited: 0
24. Title: Long-standing environmental conditions, geographic isolation and host-symbiont specificity influence the relative ecological dominance and genetic diversification of coral endosymbionts in the genus Symbiodinium
Author(s): LaJeunesse TC, Pettay DT, Sampayo EM, et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY Volume: 37 Issue: 5 Pages: 785-800 Published: MAY 2010
Times Cited: 9
25. Title: Differential Regulation by Heat Stress of Novel Cytochrome P450 Genes from the Dinoflagellate Symbionts of Reef-Building Corals
Author(s): Rosic NN, Pernice M, Dunn S, et al.
Source: APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY Volume: 76 Issue: 9 Pages: 2823-2829 Published: MAY 2010
Times Cited: 2
26. Title: Heating rate and symbiont productivity are key factors determining thermal stress in the reef-building coral Acropora formosa
Author(s): Middlebrook R, Anthony KRN, Hoegh-Guldberg O, et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY Volume: 213 Issue: 7 Pages: 1026-1034 Published: APR 2010
Times Cited: 3
27. Title: A method for extracting a high-quality RNA from Symbiodinium sp.
Author(s): Rosic NN, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYCOLOGY Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Pages: 139-146 Published: APR 2010
Times Cited: 4
28. Title: Early molecular responses of coral larvae to hyperthermal stress (vol 18, pg 5101, 2009)
Author(s): Rodriguez-Lanetty M, Harii S, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: MOLECULAR ECOLOGY Volume: 19 Issue: 5 Pages: 1071-1071 Published: MAR 10 2010
Times Cited: 0
29. Title: The impact of benthic algae on the settlement of a reef-building coral
Author(s): Diaz-Pulido G, Harii S, McCook LJ, et al.
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Pages: 203-208 Published: MAR 2010
Times Cited: 5
30. Title: Broadcast spawning patterns of Favia species on the inshore reefs of Thailand
Author(s): Kongjandtre N, Ridgway T, Ward S, et al.
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Pages: 227-234 Published: MAR 2010
Times Cited: 0
31. Title: Doom and Boom on a Resilient Reef: Climate Change, Algal Overgrowth and Coral Recovery
Author(s): Diaz-Pulido G, McCook LJ, Dove S, et al.
Source: PLOS ONE Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Article Number: e5239 Published: APR 22 2009
Times Cited: 14
32. Title: Coral Skeletons Defend against Ultraviolet Radiation
Author(s): Reef R, Kaniewska P, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: PLOS ONE Volume: 4 Issue: 11 Article Number: e7995 Published: NOV 25 2009
Times Cited: 1
33. Title: Early molecular responses of coral larvae to hyperthermal stress
Author(s): Rodriguez-Lanetty M, Harii S, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: MOLECULAR ECOLOGY Volume: 18 Issue: 24 Pages: 5101-5114 Published: DEC 2009
Times Cited: 10
34. Title: The coral reef crisis: The critical importance of < 350 ppm CO2
Author(s): Veron JEN, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Lenton TM, et al.
Source: MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN Volume: 58 Issue: 10 Pages: 1428-1436 Published: OCT 2009
Times Cited: 25
35. Title: Effect of colony size and surrounding substrate on corals experiencing a mild bleaching event on Heron Island reef flat (southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia)
Author(s): Ortiz JC, Gomez-Cabrera MD, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 28 Issue: 4 Pages: 999-1003 Published: DEC 2009
Times Cited: 1
36. Title: Assisted migration: part of an integrated conservation strategy
Author(s): Vitt P, Havens K, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION Volume: 24 Issue: 9 Pages: 473-474 Published: SEP 2009
Times Cited: 4
37. Title: Photoreactivation is the main repair pathway for UV-induced DNA damage in coral planulae
Author(s): Reef R, Dunn S, Levy O, et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY Volume: 212 Issue: 17 Pages: 2760-2766 Published: SEP 1 2009
Times Cited: 2
38. Title: Climate change and coral reefs: Trojan horse or false prophecy?
Author(s): Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Pages: 569-575 Published: SEP 2009
Times Cited: 2
39. Title: Stability of coral-endosymbiont associations during and after a thermal stress event in the southern Great Barrier Reef
Author(s): Stat M, Loh WKW, LaJeunesse TC, et al.
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Pages: 709-713 Published: SEP 2009
Times Cited: 7
40. Title: Response of two species of Indo-Pacific corals, Porites cylindrica and Stylophora pistillata, to short-term thermal stress: The host does matter in determining the tolerance of corals to bleaching
Author(s): Fitt WK, Gates RD, Hoegh-Guldberg O, et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY Volume: 373 Issue: 2 Pages: 102-110 Published: MAY 31 2009
Times Cited: 13
41. Title: Bacterial communities closely associated with coral tissues vary under experimental and natural reef conditions and thermal stress
Author(s): Ainsworth TD, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: AQUATIC BIOLOGY Volume: 4 Issue: 3 Pages: 289-296 Published: 2009
Times Cited: 5
42. Title: Phototropic growth in a reef flat acroporid branching coral species
Author(s): Kaniewska P, Campbell PR, Fine M, et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY Volume: 212 Issue: 5 Pages: 662-667 Published: MAR 1 2009
Times Cited: 4
43. Title: Effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems Introduction
Author(s): Vezina AF, Hoegh-Guldberg O
Source: MARINE ECOLOGY-PROGRESS SERIES Volume: 373 Pages: 199-201 Published: 2008
Times Cited: 5
44. Title: The big ecological questions inhibiting effective environmental management in Australia
Author(s): Morton SR, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Lindenmayer DB, et al.
Source: AUSTRAL ECOLOGY Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-9 Published: FEB 2009
Times Cited: 12
45. Title: Ocean acidification causes bleaching and productivity loss in coral reef builders
Author(s): Anthony KRN, Kline DI, Diaz-Pulido G, et al.
Source: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Volume: 105 Issue: 45 Pages: 17442-17446 Published: NOV 11 2008
Times Cited: 69
46. Title: Imaging the fluorescence of marine invertebrates and their associated flora
Author(s): Ainsworth TD, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Leggat W
Source: JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY-OXFORD Volume: 232 Issue: 2 Pages: 197-199 Published: NOV 2008
Times Cited: 0
47. Title: Symbiont acquisition strategy drives host-symbiont associations in the southern Great Barrier Reef
Author(s): Stat M, Loh WKW, Hoegh-Guldberg O, et al.
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 27 Issue: 4 Pages: 763-772 Published: DEC 2008
Times Cited: 12
48. Title: Linkages between coral assemblages and coral proxies of terrestrial exposure along a cross-shelf gradient on the southern Great Barrier Reef
Author(s): Jupiter S, Roff G, Marion G, et al.
Source: CORAL REEFS Volume: 27 Issue: 4 Pages: 887-903 Published: DEC 2008
Times Cited: 10
49. Title: Where Species Go, Legal Protections Must Follow Response
Author(s): Hoegh-Guldberg O, Hughes L, Mcintyre S, et al.
Source: SCIENCE Volume: 322 Issue: 5904 Pages: 1049-1050 Published: NOV 14 2008
Times Cited: 1
50. Title: Early cellular changes are indicators of pre-bleaching thermal stress in the coral host
Author(s): Ainsworth TD, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Heron SF, et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY Volume: 364 Issue: 2 Pages: 63-71 Published: OCT 3 2008
Times Cited: 9
MarcH says:
A lot there on coral, Ove but nothing that appears to qualify you as expert enough to respond to the wider issues raised by the four scientists you severely defame above.
I recall a university geologist falling back on "argument from authority" to try and settle a geological debate in the 1990s. The gist of this was that he had published more than the other, therefore his theory had more credibility. The physical evidence eventually blew his published papers to pieces, and his theory went with it. Seems quality trumps quantity. Something similar is occurring in the debate as to the severity of man's impact on the climate. From inside the echo chamber it's hard to notice what's going on outside.
OveHG says:
Ah yes but you've missed my major point. People point to me when we're talking about climate change and coral reefs – that is something I know about and my ideas have been tested in the peer-reviewed literature (as you can see). I don't stand up and claim that I know about past climate variability, atmospheric physics or other key issues. When speaking of those matters, I defer to the IPCC (the most credible consensus on the science) or to appropriate experts with long track records of achievement and peer review within the scientific field in question. That does not include Bob Carter, David Evans, Stewart Franks and Bill Kininmonth.
janama says:
Professor Bob Carter – I get 34 papers since 1999
William Robert Kininmonth is a retired Australian meteorologist From 1986 to 1998 he headed Australia's National Climate Centre, monitoring Australia's changing climate and advising government on the extent and severity of climate extremes. He coordinated the scientific and technical review of the 1997-98 El Niño event for the World Meteorological Organization and its input to the United Nations Task Force on El Niño. As a member of Australia's delegations to the Second World Climate Conference (1990) and the subsequent negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1991-92) he had a close association with the early developments of the climate change debate.
Associate Professor Stewart Franks – I count 26 papers since 1999.
Dr David Evans consulted full-time for the Australian Greenhouse Office (now the Department of Climate Change) from 1999 to 2005, and part-time 2008 to 2010. Evans is a mathematician and engineer, with six university degrees including a PhD from Stanford University in electrical engineering.
No wonder you keep making predictions that fail to materialise as your research skills are obviously appalling.
OveHG says:
The issue here is whether these individuals have published the ideas that they present in the Quadrant article in the peer-reviewed literature.
If they haven't, then the ideas are untested by the scientific community.
I am not denying that Bob Carter, William Kininmonth, and Stewart Franks have published peer-reviewed articles on unrelated issues. As my analysis shows, however, they have published on either peripheral or completely unrelated topics. Let's take Bob Carter's track record in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.
Bob has published 29 peer-reviewed papers on subjects mostly to do with sedimentology that are without doubt worthy contributions to this field but are unrelated to the areas that he offered expert opinion on in the Quadrant article. As I pointed out, he did publish one paper in 2008 with McLean as first author which was later shown to be seriously flawed and completely erroneous in its conclusions by a number of distinguished atmospheric scientists with long track records.
The rest of papers on the list are opinion pieces in non-scientific journals (Economic Analysis & Policy, World Economics etc). None of these articles have tested the core conclusions of the Quadrant article.
William Kininmonth is retired as you point out is retired and has not published in the peer-reviewed literature for some time – and consequently has not tested his ideas within the scientific community. All we can say is that he has offered some untested opinions in this case.
David Evans may have many degrees and may be an excellent mathematician and engineer. But he has not published his ideas in scientific journals and therefore they remain opinions as well.
And finally, Stewart Franks, who has also published extensively on subjects such as hydrology, hydrologic modelling and natural variability in the hydrological cycle. There is no doubt he is qualified and published in these important areas. But he is – like me – is unqualified and unpublished in areas such as atmospheric physics, satellite measurements, and many of the other areas that he and the other three claim to have expert opinions in. And most of all, they like me have not published in the peer-reviewed literature on these topics and have therefore not properly tested the ideas they are putting forward.
And like the others, Associate professor Franks does not have expertise in areas such as coastal processes, sea level rise, agriculture, urban planning, infrastructure, coastal geomorphology, economics, meteorology, long-term climate records, satellite measurements, atmospheric physics, attribution of climate change, and understanding of long-term trends in weather systems.
This expertise is needed if you are to back up the statements made in the Quadrant article.
Paul S says:
If only the argument was simply about who has the most number of published, peer reviewed papers. Getting colleagues who already agree with your hypothesis to review your paper is not much of a challenge. At no point has the null hypothesis – that the warming trend since the 18th century is due to natural variation consistent with long term trends – been disproven. The main hypothesis – that anthropogenic C02 is causingg a warming of the earth's atmosphere – is easily falsified because the propsed mechanisms have retrospective predictive value. That is, they cannot account for previous known warm periods in human history. There can be no special pleading that 'it's different now", because the laws of physics are the laws of physics, and do not change to suit the priorities of the researcher.
OveHG says:
You have missed my point – experimental methodology is completely irrelevant and the silly smokescreen.
This is about four individuals (Franks, Evans, Carter and Kininmonth) who claimed to have a credible alternative that is superior to the scientific consensus and ruminations of BOM, CSIRO, NASA, NOAA and a whole host of other highly reputable scientific organisations. This about 4 individuals that actually haven't had their relatively non-expert opinions tested in the peer-reviewed literature.
Basically, the concept of 'snake oil' comes to mind.
Clearly, if I had a chiropractic issue, I would go to a chiropractor not a motor mechanic or a medical professional.
Paul S says:
apologies: the above should say "..no retrospective predictive value.."
KeithH says:
If former premier Peter Beattie had listened to hydrologist Stewart Framks instead of the likes of rabid alarmist activists like David Karoly and Tim Flannery, Brisbane could have properly prepared for the major flood he correctly predicted and would not have suffered near the loss of life and devastating damage that occurred.
They would not have been too frightened to release Wivenhoe Dam water at the proper time and lessen the flood effects, nor would they now have a useless, enormously expensive mothballed desal plant.
Open your eyes Ove. The UNIPCC AGW scam is crashing round your ears!
OveHG says:
Yet another unproven mythology re; Dr Franks and his expert opinion – this time – on dam levels!
KeithH – wake-up. Several thousand scientists, many with Nobel laureates, many in the top scientific agencies across the planet, are unlikely to be wrong.
Climate change cannot simply be wished away by burying your head in the sand!
CameronH says:
Ove, The biggest problem with all of your self congratulation is that your various predictions on the demise of coral reefs, I recall something about one half of the reefs in the Indian ocean disappearing, appear to be all duds. This would put you in the same catagory as "we are now in permentant drought" Tim Flannery. Why should we accept your scribbling any more than his, just because you managed to convince your mates at some magazine that you know what you are talking about?
OveHG says:
CameronH – you need to read the literature rather than look in the mirror and endorse your own rhetoric. The majority of the 46% of Western Indian Ocean coral reefs damaged in 1998 have not recovered. Coral reefs are disappearing in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific at the rate of 1 to 2% per year – read the paper by Bruno and Selig (2007). Bruno, J.F., and Selig, E.R., 2007, Regional decline of coral cover in the Indo-Pacific: timing, extent, and subregional comparisons: PLoS ONE. , v. 2, p. e711. Perhaps you can direct me to a peer-reviewed that doesn't say this for Coral reefs in SE Asia or the Western Indian Ocean.
Mike G says:
Marc, if you're concerned about an argument from authority, simply look at the arguments being made by Carter et al. A lot are political/value judgements, so I'll just stick to a few objective assertions they make.
"global temperature has been level or cooling gently for the last ten years"- A very simple claim that's very simply wrong (yet is made at least 3 times in the reply). Of GISS, HadCRUt, RSS, and UAH, all except HadCRUt have positive trends over the most recent 10 years of data. According to the group's own argument, "the most accurate record of all is that measured from satellites"- both of which show an increase in temperature over the past 10 years. Choose a time period that actually shows statistical significance and all 4 also show an increase in temp to the present.
"all versions of the 20th century thermometer temperature record on which the Minister places his reliance are of limited accuracy and also encompass a warming bias"- A baseless assertion, that is again contrary to the actual data. Menne et al compared thermometer readings taken from stations labeled "good" by skeptics against those taken from stations labeled as "poor." They found that there was a slight cooling bias in the record. Dr. Muller of Berkley's BEST project recently repeated the exercise with "skeptic," Anthony Watts' endorsement… at least until Muller got the same result as Menne.
Despite the assertion by "skeptics" that there is a warming bias in thermometer records, none have produced an analysis that actually shows this.
In both cases where they make direct claims that can be tested objectively, their arguments fail. They're 180 degrees from reality. That's not an argument from authority. It's an argument from data. They're wrong regardless of their publication record.
OveHG says:
Well said Mike G.
What really concerns me about some of the people here is that they're just not reading and understanding what the science actually says. Lots of opinions and very little substance.
MarcH says:
Your argument above applies equally to David Karoly and Lesley Hughes. The minister should be listening to a wide range of views and considering all the evidence, not just that selected for him by one group with vested interests.
By the way, anyone considering attending a chiropratic clinic needs their head checked. What next, Ove, an endorsement of homeopathy?
MarcH says:
In regard to the IPCC this statement by Ross McKitrick appears relevant. Minister Combet would be wise to actively seek dissenting voices…
"Some people might be tempted to defend climatology by saying that normal scientific procedures have broken down due to the intense policy fights and political interference. But in my opinion that confuses cause and effect. The policy community has aggressively intervened in climate science because of all the breaches of normal scientific procedures. The public has lost confidence in the ability of the major institutions of climatology, including the IPCC and the leading journals, to deal impartially with the evidence."
janama says:
Mike G:
Sea Surface Temperature:
Sea Level: (just recently revealed)
You say no one has proven the temperature bias in global temperature records.
1 – here's the proof for Australian Temps
2 – New Zealand had their whole record scrapped because of temperature manipulation.
What I find interesting is that Dr Peter Ridd appears to totally disagree with you on the GBR
OveHG says:
Great … A shock jock and a scientist who has not published anything in the peer reviewed literature on his position relative to conclusions published by me in the scientific literature. Sort of lacks credibility doesn't it?
Mike G says:
Again, as I pointed out in my original post, HadCRUt is the only one of the 4 major global temperature series which shows a (statistically insignificant) decline over your chosen time period. Are we to believe that it's merely a coincidence that that's the only trend you choose to show? That certainly seems like an odd choice in light of Carter et al's claim that satellite temperature records are the most accurate and the incessant bleating about how CRU (the CRU part of HadCRUt) scientists fudged the temperature records. One would almost be tempted to believe that you've cherrypicked the one record that seems to support your argument while ignoring the rest.
If Carter's claim about the accuracy of the satellite series is true then why is that declining trend not seen in those satellite records? Perhaps you wish to argue that although the satellite records are the most accurate, they're still not accurate enough to capture the true nature of global temperature, but in that case it's just as damaging to Carter's claim of a declining trend as it is to anyone else's. If you cannot determine the real trend from even the most accurate record then you cannot determine that the real trend is a decline.
And what about the time interval of that "trend?" Why choose 2002 as the starting point rather than a date that gives a statistically significant trend? Go ahead, pick any interval ending at the present with a statistically significant trend in any of the global temp records. Tell us which way the trend is headed.
janama says:
that should be:
MarcH says:
Mike G,
The BEST study has not been completed, it's a little early to be quote mining it, when there is nothing yet published by the group in the peer reviewed literature. This is the basis of Ove's argument with the four scientists he defames above.
In regard to recent temperature trends. The last decade has been effectively neutral. The overall trend for the last century is about 0.1 degree per decade. It effectively falsifies the current crop of IPCC climate models that are clearly overly conservative. That they are still being supported by the IPCC against the evidence suggests someone failed to get the memo on Popperian falsification. To borrow Ove's words "the concept of 'Snake oil' comes to mind"
OveHG says:
Defame … Hardly. Merely pointing out some important features of the type of experts that underpin these opinions.
Your questions re global temperature are easily answered … Why don't you go to the web site for the answer (dig into the literature here).)
janama says:
um….shock jock! – don't you mean, Bachelor of Arts, Senior English Master at The King's School at Parramatta, Oxford University Tennis Blue, ex speech writer for Malcolm Fraser, Executive Director of the Employers' Federation of NSW and one of the most successful coaches of the Australian Rugby Union team, The Wallabies?….oh…AND No 1 rating breakfast programme for the past 10 years or so.
You seem totally confident in the peer review process as the only way to determine scientific credibility.
perhaps you should read this:
OveHG says:
I guess if you act like a shock jock you are one. Have a look at this.
MarcH says:
Ove raves about the need to cite peer reviewed literature then suggests a link to a blog. Wonderful irony mate.
OveHG says:
MarcH. I said 'dig into the literature here' and pointed you to the Web site at Skeptical Science which gives you a simple answer and then shows you the key scientifically peer reviewed literature to understand the different points of view. It is an excellent resource.
MarcH says:
Perhaps the next IPCC report can just refer to that blog and save the world a lot of money. Or would that put you out of a job?
OveHG says:
I had no idea you were such an ideologue. Now I know who you are, it all falls into place.
Phil M says:
Maybe we could just get rid of all climate scientists & use experts like Christopher Monkton or Bjorn Lomborg eh?
MarcH says:
Since when is Ove HG a climate expert? Coral yes, climate NO
Ricki says:
Ove, I do not know how you can put up with such treatment. Great post though. It is a worry about the recovery rates of corals.
By the way MarcH – climate is the trend over 30 years; weather is what happens every day. You cannot look at 10 years and expect to get a significant measure of the trend. Anyway there are other measures that prove there is a forcing, such as the rate of heat loss from the upper atmosphere and the increasing heat stored in our oceans – these also show clear strong trends.
The point of the article is that people should be listening to the experts who are proven in the field not those who just have an opinion. If they cannot publish in the peer reviewed literature then it is unlikely they can be relied on.
Personally, I find the peer reviewed papers extremely convincing, in fact 100% convincing. I find the 4 mentioned have only their opinions. Their claims about the data are not supported by a close look at that data. In fact they are so totally wrong, I can't help wondering how they can justify their opinions to themselves.
MarcH says:
Only 30! And here I was looking at the last 100 years.
janama says:
It appears some of your past papers are being questioned Ove: The non peer reviewed ones.
jcrabb says:
I love how 'Rejects' (seeing how they are so sensitive about the word denier and they do reject a lot of data) change their little lines of attack, not giving a damn about coming to a understanding of reality, just continually move the 'shell' around to always be contrary, no matter what, then they go back to 'watts up his bolt' land.
adelady says:
"The last decade has been effectively neutral." It just happens to be the hottest decade ever recorded.
This is one of those Fred Astaire arguments. You're now several metres from the ground. The fact that you danced about a bit rather than running straight to the top cannot alter that reality.
All the previous dancing about on the steps has already got you much higher than you started out at the bottom. If you keep on dancing at that level, you're still a long way from where you started.
janama says:
all "the hottest decade ever recorded" means is that there has been no warming throughout the decade – else you would have said it!
MarcH says:
Ove, not sure if the authors of this piece ran this past your preferred source of climate science information. What was that source again? The IPCC? No that's right, it was a blog.
Phil M says:
Good job Ove, can I just say that you have done a great job on neutralizing the misinformation deniers have dished out on this thread.
Pure pwnage.
By the way, I like the new layout of the site.
OveHG says:
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 1:47 PM, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
In answer to the libelous "ka-ching" post, here is what was 'conveniently' missed:
A. The major conclusions of each review listed have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. That means that the ideas survived scientific scrutiny (very different to the rubbish produced by Bolt, Carter and others). These papers are formed in part from 200 or so peer-reviewed articles that I have been responsible for. For details on the talented Australian-based scientists that I work with go to http://www.coralreefecosystems.org.
B. Each report went through rigorous scientific review and each bases its conclusions on hundreds of peer-reviewed papers. Look at the back of each study for the literature, names of reviewers and other details.
C. I have worked under scientific contract for a wide range of organizations including NASA, NOAA, Rio Tinto, ARC, UQ, several governments, Stanford University, Sydney University and so on. I think it is completely appropriate that I have given scientific advice to conservation groups as well.
toby robertson says:
How is that settled science going? "The ozone hole is not even mentioned in the summary for policymakers issued with the last IPCC report," noted Lorenzo M. Polvani, Professor of Applied Mathematics and of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Senior Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and co-author of the paper. "We show in this study that it has large and far-reaching impacts. The ozone hole is a big player in the climate system!"
"It's really amazing that the ozone hole, located so high up in the atmosphere over Antarctica, can have an impact all the way to the tropics and affect rainfall there — it's just like a domino effect," said Sarah Kang, Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Columbia Engineering's Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and lead author of the paper.
The ozone hole is now widely believed to have been the dominant agent of atmospheric circulation changes in the Southern Hemisphere in the last half century. This means, according to Polvani and Kang, that international agreements about mitigating climate change cannot be confined to dealing with carbon alone— ozone needs to be considered, too. "This could be a real game-changer," Polvani added.
"Kang et al 2011, Science Express
Over the past half-century, the ozone hole has caused a
poleward shift of the extratropical westerly jet in the
Southern Hemisphere. Here, we argue that these
extratropical circulation changes, resulting from ozone
depletion, have substantially contributed to subtropical
precipitation changes. Specifically, we show that
precipitation in the Southern subtropics in austral
summer increases significantly when climate models are
integrated with reduced polar ozone concentrations.
Furthermore, the observed patterns of subtropical
precipitation change, from 1979 to 2000, are very similar
to those in our model integrations, where ozone depletion
alone is prescribed. In both climate models and
observations, the subtropical moistening is linked to a
poleward shift of the extratropical westerly jet. Our
results highlight the importance of polar regions on the
subtropical hydrological cycle.
How is the temp anomaly for 2011? …down down down!
What is it the ARGO Buoys show about ocean temperature? ( flat to declining!!)
Ove, whose predictions about climate and its impacts have been more accurate? yours or the "4″…how are our extinct reefs going?
How is the decelarating increase in sea levels??
This article and combets comments are the cries of desperate men…..get those blinkers off
OveHG says:
Well, Toby, if you only read a tiny part of the literature, which is what you're doing here, you will not understand the full picture. Cherry-picking is a very bad way to go about understanding climate change and its impacts.
As for drawing a massive conclusion about the veracity of climate change science from the first four months of 2011, you astound me! Do you actually understand the distinction between weather and climate???
toby robertson says:
Yes Ove of course i understand the difference. My point is the science is clearly not settled and yet so many keep suggesting that it is. Peer review is a long way from perfect and it is quite clear that if you do not push the "party" line you dont get published…or at least its very hard. That doesnt stop these dissenting scientists from being right. You are defending combet who is pushing a clearly political agenda based on morals and bad politics rather than real solutions if indeed solutions are required. As Janama linked for you above if you pick the trend from 2002 temp is actually down. The rate of increase we are seeing will not bring us anywhere near any of the predicted temperature changes late this century…the same for sea levels and ocean temps have been falling overall ( though not in places like the coral sea…i agree). The point i make about the sudden drop in temperaure is cherry picking but my perception from thousands of hours of research on this topic is that is exactly what believers do in order to make their points.
It is inconvenient isnt it that temperatures have been declining, ocean temp declining, rate of sea lvl increase declining, no hot spot and all while emissions have climbed rapidly? ( science says when the evidence does not support the theory you either throw it out or modify it…you guys all just ignore it and go back to models!)
Then when we consider the medieval, roman and minoan warm periods in all likelhood being as warm or warmer than today it really does seem to be acting as a "shock jock" to push for urgent and dramatic action to be taken on carbon dioxide?
The shock jocks like hansen, hamilton, flannery and your own predictions about the demise of the barrier reef are all based on unproven science because the real world is not doing what you guys keep predicting. Your and others continual need to refer to the "thousands of scientists" is further evidence of the lack of real evidence. What about the tens of thousands of scientists who do not think carbon emissions are a significant problem?
The world has been warming up since the end of the little ice age…is it any wonder the warmest decades ( not in USA…OR GREENLAND OR MANY OTHER PLACES)appear over the last decades?
co2 may lead temperature but it certainly hasnt in the past it has always been a lagged effect…things could change but you need real evidence to convince most thinking people first!
the evidence for positive feedback is pretty thin on the ground whilst the evidence for negative feedback effects is everywhere…..so the real physics of co2 that suggest about a 1c increase for a doubling of co2 is likely to be much closer to the truth….and the current trend of about .1c per decade also gives us the same change.
There are of course many scientists currently suggesting we are in for some very cold times and perhaps the tornadoes are evidence of this cooler world?…given the sudden drop over the last 4 months?
our poor understanding of clouds is a potentially obvious way to explain temperature increases with only a very minor change in cloud cover and altitude . the science is not settled and the governments desire to lower living standards as a futile moral gesture is insane in my and many others opinion. My experience of most sceptics is they are far more informed of the real science and doubts than most rusted on believers.
OveHG says:
"your own predictions about the demise of the barrier reef are all based on unproven science because the real world is not doing what you guys keep predicting"
Did you miss the massive bleaching events in Western Australia? Did you miss the bleaching events we've had over the past three decades? I guess one has to ask: how would you know? The inane mumblings of Andrew Bolt are not the real world. To understand problems with your viewpoint, recommend you have a look at this insightful documentary by the Prof Paul Nurse, head of the Royal Society of London: http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=6570.
"my perception from thousands of hours of research on this topic". If this is where you've got after so much hard work, then I recommend that you stick with your day job.
Phil M says:
The shock jocks like hansen, hamilton, flannery
You mean…….to tell me…….that Hansen, Hamilton & Flannery have their own radio shows?!!!!………Where? What channel, this is fantastic. Finaly, something to combat the 99.9999% of commercial talk back radio that deliberately misinforms their listeners on behalf of their sponsors, shareholders and political party.
OveHG says:
Yes – good point Phil. Clive, Jim and Tim have a show! Great – at last some quality. I would love to tune in too!
(Toby – read papers by me and others to understand how wrong you are on the reef issue – it goes to the heart of your inability to distinguish weather (driving bleaching events) from climate (long term loss of reefs when we get beyond +2oC. If you don't get that, then I can't help you further).
toby robertson says:
What to say, the same stock standard response from those who are so sure they are right about something that is so clearly not understood. Some would call this insanity or stupidity.
Ive dived the barrier reef many times and yes their are patches of bleaching and nasty patches damaged by people using anchors to moor their boats. You have predicted the demise of the reef several times and yet it is still there. I note you ignore my facts about temperature, sea level rise et al because they are so inconvenient to your beliefs.
I started out a believer but can only shake my head in disbelief at the nonsense sprouted as evidence. I have even tried to bet with people like james annan when they were big noting themselves… but they had no interest.
I dont blame you for not responding to my main arguments because that would mean challenging your beliefs and it is abundantly clear that the "shock jocks" of the warming world have made up their minds and they are smarter than the rest of us…..Bolt makes your life hard because he uses facts…very inconvenient.
The Purser says:
Andrew Dolt appeared on a daily TV show called 'The Circle' this morning. He was given a minor grilling by the show's panel and huffity puffity women are upset about it and posting on the show's Facebook page. Check it out:
toby robertson says:
Ove and Phil, your inability to see that the "shock jock" warmers i mentioned are that because of their gross exagerations and errors ( eg "between 30 and 40 per cent of coral on Queensland's great Barrier Reef could die within a month"…your words Ove….reality less than 1%!!, dams will never fill again flannery, no more skiing, arctic ice gone soon, hurricane activity to increase etc etc ). The fact that you cant see this supports my bias that you believers have no understanding of the big picture but rather the small things you focus on with the intention of proving warming allow you to see things others do not….because the bits prove ntg when the real numbers dont support it. If you really had evidence you would provide it but it is never forthcoming without a need for models to creat eyour scary scenarios. Most sceptics accept a marginal warming from additional co2 but ntg that warrants dramatic action.
At no time did i bring up bolt until you accused me of getting my info from him. I most certainly do not use him as a source but it must be very inconvenient when the media actually does focus on the reality of the poor predictions.
Ove if the world is warming up wouldnt you expect the water to warm and some damage to corals? or could it relate to other factors like UV rays due to ozone loss? We are told that the temp swings are unprecedented and the coral wont cope with the rapid changes in temperatures. There have been much more dramatic changes in temperature since the dalton and maunder minimums, it appears they survived the cooling and warming!
coral bleaching is not evidence of human enhanced warming.
once again i state the facts that ocean temps have been flat to declining since the argo buoys were introduced, sea level rise has slowed and the trend in satellite data has also been down since 2001..surely that should raise questions given the significant increase in co2?
The world does have a real problem and that is population.
People that fall back on the science is settled should be ashamed to call themselves scientists
toby robertson says:
Thx for the Horizon link I will watch it tomorrow.
toby robertson says:
Ove might i also suggest your suggestion that i do not understand that climate is over 30 years ( better to say long term) looks pretty silly when you look at a temp chart such as this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature_record_of_the_past_1000_years look at chart since 1860…and it shows from 1880 to 1910 a decline from 1910-1945 ish a rise, from 1940-1975 ish a fall and then a rise over the last 30 years with it now levelling off…whats the bet the next 30 years is cool based on this cyclical trend?….and all the time co2 was rising…not a very strong correlation in reality is it?
I can apprceciate that you hold heart felt beliefs and believe you are fighting the right fight but from where i and so many others sit it seems far more like a belief system than reality….much like religion.
OveHG says:
OK Toby, let's review the facts. The modeling of climate has been successfully incorporated a range of different drivers (natural, anthropogenic) into temperature reconstructions. As I am sure you are aware (are you?), mid-century cooling involved aerosols and is irrelevant as an argument against recent global warming. Three distinct periods are clear – warming occurred both at the beginning and at the end of the 20th century, but is interrupted an aerosol driven cooling trend from 1940 to 1975. If the atmospheric modeling community didn't understand this, then we would not have the modeling community producing the results shown here in AR4 of the IPCC. And before you go on with some sort of conspiracy theory nonsense, the IPCC process is basically sound as found by the recent independent review.
Thomas Moore says:
Toby, I don't know whether you're just ignorant, but you can't tackle someone like OveHG with the half-arsed understanding you seem to have of the climate. You can't just eyeball a graph and call it a 'cyclical trend' without talking out of your backside. None of what you are saying is novel to anyone with half a grasp of climate science, and unsurprisingly there's a fairly good explanation for your 'issues'. Channel some of your 'skepticism' into actually understanding what you are trying to argue before looking like a fool. "Even during a period of long term warming, there are short periods of cooling due to climate variability. Short term cooling over the last few years is largely due to a strong La Nina phase in the Pacific Ocean and a prolonged solar minimum."
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Posted on March 9, 2008 at 2:07am 0 Comments 1 Like
Hi Vicki, How are you doing? Interested in hitting sometime? I'm a 4/4.5 player out of Balboa & play at other facilities. Carmel Valley is not too far away. How often do you play?
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-Jeff Lin
Wanna play tennis with me? please shoot me an email then we can play, i am looking forward with play with you soon, my email address is email@example.com, thank you.
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Freshman Alexandra Marshall (Glen Head, N.Y.) was named the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Softball Pitcher of the Week after her impressive week at the mound. She is now 3-2 for her first collegiate season.
Of the eight games the Engineers played this past week, Marshall pitched four of them, falling in only one game. She struck out 36 batters and allowed only 14 hits and seven runs. Against the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point on March 27 in Florida, Marshall struck out 12 and held the Pointers to just one hit the entire game. In the game against No. 16 nationally ranked St. Thomas (Minn.), Marshall struck out 11 batters and allowed only three hits and one run.
MIT opened NEWMAC play in a double header against the Coast Guard Academy at home last Friday, defeating the Bears for the first time in six years with a score of 10-2 in the first game and 4-1 in the second. Senior Anna Christensen (Vernon Hills, Ill.) scored three runs throughout the day, going 3-for-3 in the second game. Senior Leah Alpert (Needham, Mass.) and sophomore Sarah Van Belleghem (Los Gatos, Calif.) were close behind with two runs apiece.
The Engineers are currently 9-4 for the season and 2-0 in conference play, having won the last seven games in a row. They will return to action on Wednesday, April 3 when they host Suffolk University at 3:00 and 5:00 p.m.


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Hiky — Suicide Girl of the Day
Meet Hiky, a Californian Suicide Girl who likes knitting, baby bunnies and guzzlin' cups of Joe.
Name: Hiky
Age: 23
Location: California
Into: Life
Makes me happy: Friends, music, living, art, baby bunnies, Snapple Apple
Makes me sad: Love
Hobbies: Ceramics, painting, drawing, knitting,
Five things I can't live without: Mascara, Arizona iced teas, stuffed animals, my Hello Kitty goods
I spend most of my free time: Straight chillin'
SuicideGirls is a community that celebrates alternative beauty and alternative culture from all over the world. Since 2001, tens of thousands of models have submitted millions of photos to their website hoping to become SuicideGirls.


text:
Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Raheem
#12 Grave Destruction and Desecration
You destroyed all the sign-posts by which we knew the graves of the Companions, the Mothers of the Believers, and the noble members of the Family of the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him. You left them a vacant lot, the grave-posts scattered stones so that we can no longer know whose grave is where. Gasoline was even poured on one of them.1 Truly there is no change nor power except with Allah Most High, Most Great!
Leave stone superstructures intact for they are allowed! Leave the hand-span elevation for it is allowed, together with the two grave-posts! It is established that the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – placed a rock on top of `Uthman ibn Maz`un's grave – Allah be well-pleased with him – saying: "With it I shall designate the grave of my [milk-]brother and later bury in it whoever dies among my relatives."2 Kharija ibn Zayd said: "I can see myself when we were young men in the time of `Uthman [ibn `Affan] – Allah be well-pleased with him. The strongest one of us in high jump was he who could jump over the grave of `Uthman ibn Maz`un and clear it."3
1 The grave of Amina bint Wahb the Prophet's mother – Allah bless and greet him.
2 Narrated from an unnamed Companion by Abu Dawud and al-Bayhaqi in al-Kubra (3:412) with fair chains cf. Ibn Hajar, Talkhis al-Habir (2:134); Ibn al-Mulaqqin, Tuhfat al-Muhtaj (2:29). The complete report states that the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – asked a man to place a rock on top of Ibn Maz`un's grave; when he was unable to move it, he – Allah bless and greet him – rolled up his sleeves and helped him and the whiteness of his arms was visible. Ibn Maz`un was the first of the Muhâjirûn buried in Baqi` al-Gharqad. Ibrahim, the Prophet's son, was buried next to him.
3 Cited by al-Bukhari without chain in his Sahih chapter-title, "[Placing] a Stalk on Top of the Grave." Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari (3:256=1959 ed. 3:223): "Al-Bukhari narrated it with its [sound] chain in al-Tarikh al-Saghir (1:42)… It contains a proof for the licitness of raising high the grave and elevating it above the surface of the earth."
Ironically, when the Sufi cemetery was razed to make way for the university of Damascus and its campus in that city, King `Abd al-`Aziz ibn Sa`ud intervened personally to preserve intact the tombs of Ibn Taymiyya and his student Ibn Kathir.
As for the report on the qubba (= khayma, fustat, i.e. a tent) built for one full year over al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn ibn `Ali's grave by his wife Fatima bint al-Husayn ibn `Ali is narrated in Ibn Abi al-Dunya's Kitab al-Qubur and cited in al-Bukhari's Sahih in mu`allaq form (chainless) but positively attributed by the Imam, i.e. he considers it sahih even if it may not necessarily meet his standard in the Sahih. Chapter titled: "The dislike over what is considered taking the grave as a place of worship." After a year she folded up the tent and heard a voice saying: "Had they but found what they had lost!" Another voice replied: "Nay, they despaired and then turned back!" Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari (3:238=1959 ed. 3:200): "Admonishment came to them in the form of the two callers decrying what they had done. It seems they were from the angels or else from the believers of the Jinn. Al-Bukhari mentioned this report only because it agrees with the proofs of the Law, not because it is a proof in itself."


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Academic Leadership Team
The Academic Leadership Team (ALT) is comprised of the deans of the academic units and the vice president of Academic Affairs.
The ALT meets biweekly, and is chaired by the vice president of Academic Affairs. Every August the ALT devotes two to three days to addressing issues that need concentrated discussion and identifying issues for the coming academic year. The ALT primarily considers issues related to academic policy development and planning, and recommends action on any issue affecting the quality of the University's academic programs.
Faced with the physical separation of the various colleges and schools of the University, the ALT helps to bridge communication and coordination gaps which might otherwise exist. As such, the ALT provides a forum for valuable coordination and planning. By including the vice president for Enrollment Management, the ALT facilitates communication between academic and student affairs. The ALT relies upon task forces and ad hoc committees to ensure that issues are adequately reviewed and discussed prior to making a decision and properly coordinated after the decision.
The ALT also provides a mechanism for the deans to communicate with the other vice presidents, such as those charged with Business and Finance and University Advancement, who are occasionally invited to address the ALT on specific issues. Such discussions allow the ALT members to receive information necessary to carry out their responsibilities as well as to give vital information to the vice presidents. The input given by the members of the ALT better prepares the academic vice president to advocate academic positions before the President's Council and the Board of Trustees.TEAM MEMBERS
|Mert N. Aksu
|Dean, School of Dentistry
|Phyllis L. Crocker
|Dean, School of Law
|Jennifer L. Dean
|Dean, Libraries/IDS
|Joseph Eisenhauer
|Dean, College of Business Administration
|Mark Denham
|Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Education
|Gary Kuleck
|Dean, College of Engineering & Science
|Sheryl Johnson-Roulac
|Dean, Career Education Center
|Christine Pacini
|Dean, College of Health Professions & McAuley School of Nursing
|Will Wittig
|Dean, School of Architecture
|Pamela Zarkowski
|Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs


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Nato needs a rapidly deployable force able to demonstrate to Russia an attack on any ally is an attack on the whole alliance, David Cameron said today.
Speaking after a meeting with Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Philip Breedlove at the alliance headquarters in Belgium, the Prime Minister said the Nato summit in Wales in September would be a key moment.
The meeting came amid a visit by the Prime Minister to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One.
In a statement alongside the secretary general after the meeting, Mr Cameron said: "Since Russia destabilised Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea, Nato's response has focused on reassuring our eastern allies and deterring Russian aggression elsewhere. Every ally has contributed to this response, whether with ships, aircraft or troops.
"At the Nato summit we must agree how we can sustain such a robust presence in eastern Europe in the months ahead.
"I support General Breedlove's plans to reinforce Nato's headquarters in Poland, to preposition equipment and supplies and to schedule a series of exercises that will make clear we will not be intimidated by Russia's aggressive behaviour.
"We must also use the summit to ensure Nato is prepared to respond swiftly to any threat against any ally, including with little warning.
"That means a multi-national, high readiness force that can deploy quickly on exercises in the territory of an ally that feels threatened.
"This would provide clear reassurance for any vulnerable ally and make clear to any aggressor that an attack on one would be an attack on all."
Mr Rasmussen said: "We are at a crucial point in history.
"As we remember the devastation of World War One, our peace and security are once again being tested, now by Russia's aggression against Ukraine, and the criminal downing of Flight MH17 has made clear a conflict in one part of Europe can have tragic consequences around the world.
"Nato stands determined to defend all allies against any threat. We have taken immediate measures to strengthen our collective defence in the air, at sea, on land."
Mr Cameron also called for an Alliance Charter on the treatment of service personnel to be agreed, modelled on Britain's Armed Forces Covenant.
He said: "This would be reinforced by a new approach to share more systematically across Nato the best practice on the treatment of armed forces - medical care, how we support our injured personnel, the way we look after bereaved families. These will all be priorities for this work.
"Today people around the world commemorate all those who gave their lives 100 years ago in the hope of freedom and peace.
"Today, it is also important to remember it is Nato which has provided the bedrock of security and peace across Europe for the past 65 years.
"We must ensure Nato continues to foster global peace and security in the coming years and that will be at the heart of our agenda at the Nato summit in Wales next month."
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Ben Peers - Teaching, General Teaching Projects in Peru
Sitting on the long 11 hour plane journey from Madrid to Lima, I still had no idea of what to expect of the three months I would spend in Peru – two of them teaching English. I knew very little about Peru as a country, little more about South America and it felt very much like a step into the unknown. Scary? Yes. Exciting? Tremendously! The final leg of my journey, from Lima to Cuzco, flew me over the legendary Andes, and the anticipation began to set in. You do feel as if you are entering a different world.
On landing in Cuzco, hearing my voice called (with interesting pronunciation) over the loudspeaker in the airport was the first surprise! I was then whisked off on the hour's journey to the town of Urubamba, in the stunning surroundings of the Sacred Valley, where I finally arrived at my host family's house, on one of the town's dusty outlying streets. My host Mother, Renee was waiting outside. She looked incredibly happy to meet me, which immediately put me at ease, and the whole family seemed really friendly. Despite having studied A-Level Spanish, I didn't show any particular fluency for the language that night! Clearly an experienced hostess, Renee sensed my exhaustion and ushered me up to my (very comfortable) room, where I spent the next 12 hours…
The next morning, Renee walked me to the Projects Abroad office in town, where I met the Peruvian staff, who all spoke excellent English. I was taken to my school - which seemed to be half way up a mountain - and met the English teacher who I would be assisting, and one of his classes. It was all very surreal, suddenly standing in front of a class of these Peruvian 15 and 16 year olds and having to introduce myself! Since I had nothing prepared, a question and answer session seemed the best option. It was amazing to watch the students' reaction when I told them I had come on an eleven-hour plane journey all the way from England (I had to draw a map to illustrate). Then, when I told them that my dad was a TV producer, there were audible gasps in the room!
Over the next few days and weeks, I learnt a lot more about these amazing people. Their school uniform (a fetching maroon colour) wouldn't have looked out of place in an English public school, but their lives couldn't have been more different. The fact that most of them, after finishing school at 2.30, went home not to sit in front of the TV or do homework, but instead to work the land and help their parents tend their crops. One incident that sticks in my mind is the time I was teaching one class about the Family. After I had drawn a family tree up on the board and taught some example phrases, I asked for a volunteer to come up and talk about their family. She started very well – "My brother and sister are students and my father is a farmer…" Not thinking, I prompted – "and my mother…" She just looked at me with big eyes and shook her head. I felt awful.
The experience of working and getting to know children living in such a different situation from my own upbringing, has given me an insight and understanding that I will never lose. Not to mention a fresh outlook on the world. At the beginning I felt extremely daunted at the thought of teaching, having had no previous experience. But it wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. I learnt that if you're willing to have fun and make a bit of a fool of yourself sometimes (often through shaky Spanish!), the kids react with enthusiasm to a subject they don't necessarily feel is relevant to them. But it was brilliant just to have fun with them, play games and watch them enjoying themselves, because much of the teaching they are used to is a lot more dry and formulaic.
But I will remember my time in Peru for a lot more than just the teaching. Feeling integrated in a community so far removed from what I was used to was a real joy, and there's no better way to achieve this than doing something constructive like teaching, and living with a local family. After a few weeks I felt just as at home with my host family as I do back home in England, and I made some great friends amongst the other volunteers. Friday nights were spent in Cuzco (about an hour by bus from Urubamba), staying in a cheap-as-chips hostel on the beautiful city's central plaza, and enjoying a pint in the local "Irish Pub" (the world's highest, apparently) before moving onto one of the many exciting clubs.
Weeknights were spent with friends in Urubamba's "The Muse" restaurant/bar, watching DVDs and eating pizza rolls and chocolate brownies! I also had so many other new experiences, too numerous to list – paragliding, white water rafting, (proper) mountain biking and eating guinea pig amongst them! When I was there it was the middle of the festival season, every week there seemed to be another excuse to celebrate, with marching bands and never-ending fiestas celebrating the seemingly most random and trivial of things – and normal life nearly always comes to a complete halt.
Peru is a place where you never know what's going to happen next – even the bus journeys were exciting – you often end up sharing it with some interesting fellow commuters, monkeys and chickens being just a couple of examples. It is a big adventure. Perhaps it sounds clichéd, but, in all honesty, I had the time of my life!
Ben Peers
Dit verhaal is een persoonlijke ervaring van een vrijwilliger op dit project en dus een momentopname. Houd er rekening mee dat jouw ervaring hiervan af kan wijken. Onze projecten veranderen constant, omdat we inspelen op de lokale behoefte en we voortborduren op de behaalde resultaten. Ook verschillende weersomstandigheden kunnen de ervaring beïnvloeden. Lees meer over wat je kunt verwachten van dit project of neem contact met ons op voor meer informatie.


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1. Sex-slave conviction overturned
2. Murder-suicide autopsies: 3 died of gunshot wounds
3. 'Booger Red' Gets Life
4. This swinger feels persecuted
5. Study Suggests Polygamy May Lead To A Longer Life
6. For some, Gitmo interrogation techniques are a real turn-on
7. Court overturns conviction of NYC's 'S&M Svengali'
National Coalition for Sexual Freedom -- Media Update
August 22, 2008
NCSF Media Updates represent a sampling of recent stories printed in US
newspapers, magazines, and selected websites containing significant mention
of SM-leather-fetish, polyamory, or swing issues and topics.
These stories may be positive, negative, accurate, inaccurate - or anywhere
in between.
NCSF publishes the Updates to provide readers a comprehensive look at what
media outlets are writing about these topics. NCSF permits and encourages
readers to forward these Updates where appropriate.
Sex-slave conviction overturned
by Jeff Lipton
Nassau Herald (Nassau, NY)
August 21, 2008
A federal appeals court last week overturned the conviction of a North
Woodmere man who was sentenced to nine years in prison last September for
the sadomasochistic torture of a woman he met on the Internet.
In a 17-page decision on Aug. 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit granted Glenn Marcus, 55, a new trial in the sensational sex-slave
case, which dates to 1998, when he first met the woman online.
Marcus was accused of sexually torturing the now 40-year-old woman, who has
been identified only as "Jodi." He also posted photos of sadomasochistic
acts on a Web site that he forced her to operate eight to 10 hours a day
without compensation between November 1999 and September 2001, according to
Marcus was living in his parents' North Woodmere home during the time he
carried out what prosecutors described as his "horrific sexual abuses"
from 1998, when he met the woman on the Internet, to May 12, 2005, when he
was arrested.
Following a week-long trial in U.S. District Court in February 2007, a jury
of seven men and five women found Marcus guilty of sex trafficking and
forced labor, ruling that he violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act
(TVPA). District Court Judge Allyne Ross sentenced him to a nine-year prison
term on Sept. 18.
But the three-judge appeals panel ruled last week since a good portion of
the alleged crimes took place before the TVPA was enacted in October 2000,
the conviction against Marcus should be thrown out.
The judges ruled that Marcus's conviction violated the Constitution's Ex
Post Facto clause.
Marcus's attorney, Herald Price Fahringer, who handled the appeal, said his
client was "extremely pleased" with the court decision. He said that Marcus
has been held in jail for about eight months, and Fahringer hopes to get
bail set for him so Marcus can be released until his next trial. The date
for the retrial has not yet been set.
"He's elated over the results of the reversal," Fahringer said of
Marcus. "At least he's not convicted anymore, and a trial means another chance."
Marcus met Jodi in an online chat room devoted to bondage, dominance and
sadomasochism, according to court records, and persuaded her to travel from
her home in the Midwest to Maryland so they could meet, which they did in
October 1998, court documents state. During the visit, Marcus whipped Jodi
and carved the word "slave" on her stomach with a knife.
The slave-master relationship continued, and he punished the woman when she
expressed a desire to leave him in January 2000. Marcus forced her into his
parents' basement in North Woodmere, placed a hood over her head, assaulted
her with hypodermic needles and a knife and then posted these images on his
Web site, authorities said.
In August 2001, when the victim once again asked for her freedom, Marcus
took her to the basement of a Hewlett residence of a female acquaintance,
bashed her head against a metal beam and bound her ankles and wrists to the
ceiling, leaving her there for several hours, prosecutors charged. He then
forced her to have sexual intercourse with him, photos of which he also
posted on the Web site, prosecutors said.
When the woman finally managed to escape, Marcus threatened that if she went
to the authorities, he would send the Web site images of her to her parents
and to newspapers to humiliate her.
To read this entire article, go to:
editors at
Murder-suicide autopsies: 3 died of gunshot wounds
by Abby Simons
Minneapolis Star Tribune (Minnesota)
August 21, 2008
Sherburne County officials continued Thursday to interview friends of a
Zimmerman man believed to have killed his wife and a man they met through
an online swingers club and then himself.
An autopsy conducted by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner revealed
Thursday that Gary Heald, 59, shot himself to death and that Deloris
(DeDe) Heald, 56, of Zimmerman also was killed by gunfire. Autopsy results
for Rory Scott Zitur, 47, of Buffalo, have not been released, but
investigators have said that all three were shot to death.
Sherburne County Sheriff's Capt. Don Starry said Thursday that interviews
are still being conducted with those who knew the Healds, and that once
the investigation is complete, more information could be released
regarding Zitur's relationship with the Healds, and the "chat line"
where they met.
"It should be part of the information that comes out," he said. "Though
a lot of that specific stuff had already come out."
To read this entire article, go to:
editors at http://mpls.startribune.com/dynamic/feedback/form.php
'Booger Red' Gets Life
by Casey Knaupp
The Tyler Morning Telegraph (Tyler, Texas)
August 21, 2008
Patrick "Booger Red" Kelly was found guilty Thursday of engaging in
organized criminal activity and sentenced to life in prison for conspiring
with other adults to force two young siblings to have sex with each other
for a paying audience.
A Smith County jury of seven women and five men deliberated for less than
two hours before convicting Kelly, 41, Tyler, of the first-degree felony
for forcing a boy to have sex with his older sister during a doctor skit
at the Mineola Swingers' Club for his financial gain on Aug. 1, 2004.
He was sentenced to the maximum sentence of life in prison and a $10,000
fine by the jury in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr.'s court after
about 10 minutes of deliberation.
Four of the five child victims in the case also testified. All of them
identified Kelly, whom they know as "Booger Red," as being part of a group
of adults that taught them in "kindergarten" how to perform sex acts and
then forced them to dance and perform for a paying audience at the club.
Kelly testified, denying he sexually abused the children or ever went to
the club. He said he never held "kindergarten" at his house and never
forced them to dance or perform sex acts.
Assistant Smith County District Attorney Joe Murphy said the case boiled
down to who the jurors believed and asked if they believed the children.
He said the defense wanted the jurors to believe a bunch of swingers and a
man named David with a bunch of tattoos, which one of the victims
described as being at the club, as well as the defense expert who didn't
look at all of the evidence in the case.
Murphy said another of the defense's theories was that the case was a
conspiracy with the Texas Ranger, Child Protective Services, the foster
parents, therapists and the children. He said Mineola police did a one-day
investigation and then shut the case.
Murphy said the swingers testified that kids weren't at the club the four
or five nights they were there out of four months it was in operation in
2004. He said the state never said the swingers were there watching the
kids, but he didn't think they were being completely truthful.
Like Kelly, "no one is going to stand up and say yes, I did this," he
According to defense attorney Thad Davidson "We found eight swingers"
that testified that the club was open Friday and Saturday nights and the
only people with keys to the building were Russ and Sherry Adams.
He said one of the rules of the swingers' club was that no children were
ever allowed; it was only consenting adults who were not pedophiles. The
swingers testified they had never seen Kelly before.
Davidson said the only one who did a thorough investigation in the case
and went to Kelly's house was not Kemp, it was CPS Investigator Katy Wady.
She found no evidence that Kelly sexually abused his son or the children
victims in the case, he said.
Davidson said being a Texas Ranger is prestigious, but he was not
qualified as an expert in sexual abuse cases. The techniques Kemp used
when interviewing the children were improper because Ms. Cantrell was in
the room in some of them. The boy said 13 times he didn't know what they
were talking about when questioned.
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This swinger feels persecuted:
Owner of Sextasy wants license, fights eviction
by Joe Schoenmann
The Las Vegas Sun (Las Vegas, Nevada)
August 21, 2008
David Cooper says he and his wife and their girlfriend have for years been
trying to find a "nice" establishment in which to have group sex with
He finally gave up on finding anything "where the walls don't crawl"
and decided to open his own "high-end" swingers club, Sextasy, in the
Commercial Center shopping mall.
The Commercial Center, on Sahara Boulevard just west of Maryland Parkway,
seemed like the right place for it. The valley's oldest strip mall has a
long history of housing controversial, adults-only businesses. For years
it was home to the Apollo, which was known as a meeting place for gay men.
These days the mall has a bar for transsexuals and a phone bank for an
outcall service.
And while it is also home to a nationally praised Thai restaurant, Lotus
of Siam, the Commercial Center's X-rated claim to infamy is the Green
Door, which describes itself online as "the largest sex club in the
But, as with numerous other swingers clubs around the valley, the Green
Door's business license says it's a restaurant, a health club/spa,
everything but a sex club. Sex clubs, you see, are public nuisances,
according to the county code. That means they are illegal.
So Cooper figured he could just go along with the wink-and-a-nod protocol
and in February applied for a business license for a "restaurant" which
he eventually named Sextasy.
Then he encountered what his former lawyer, Allen Lichtenstein, lambasted
as bureaucratic hypocrisy, arbitrary code enforcement and, underlying it
all, the county's wish to get rid of Commercial Center once and for all.
For years the county has talked about its desire to redevelop Commercial
Center, but has had a problem coming up with the money to buy out the
dozens of business owners operating there.
One effective strategy would be to drive down the price by using the power
of the government to get rid of the tenants first, Lichtenstein said.
Lichtenstein said the county early on "made specific overtures to (buy)
specific businesses".
"And that is what's really going on here", he added. "They want
to buy the property".
In February, in fact, the Clark County Commission approved the spending of
up to $7.6 million by the county's redevelopment agency to appraise and
buy three adult-oriented businesses in Commercial Center, then relocate
the businesses and knock down the buildings.
Cooper said he was in meetings with county officials when they offered
tens of thousands of dollars for him to relocate. When the landlords of
the three properties couldn't come to an agreement, the buyout fell
through and the county came after Cooper, he said.
But Lichtenstein and Cooper say the issues go beyond the Commercial Center
and its adult businesses.
At its core, Lichtenstein said, it's a matter of the county's selectively
enforcing its rules when it comes to sex businesses. "They're basically
taking the position that they can decide which ones they will allow and
which ones they won't allow", he said.
Cooper points to recent activity by the county against a fetish club
called Libertine that was located in a strip mall near Pecos and Sunset
roads. The county denied the Libertine its business license in March, and
the district attorney's office followed up in April with a complaint
alleging the Libertine was a sex club. In July, District Court Judge
Valorie Vega ordered the Libertine closed.
County spokesman Dan Kulin said the county is not targeting any business.
"Speaking in general terms, when we find out about something that
shouldn't be going on, we take the appropriate action", he said.
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Study Suggests Polygamy May Lead To A Longer Life
by staff writers
August 19, 2008
New research suggests that men from polygamous cultures outlive those from
monogamous ones.
Virpi Lummaa, an ecologist at the University of Sheffield, suggested that
after accounting for socioeconomic differences, men aged over 60 from 140
countries that practice polygamy to varying degrees lived on average 12%
longer than men from 49 mostly monogamous nations.
The research looks to solve the long-standing puzzle of life expectancy in
human biology.
A phenomenon called the grandmother effect seeks to explain why women are
able to live so long after the menopauseunlike nearly all other animals.
Lummaa says for every 10 years a woman survives past the menopause, she
gains two additional grandchildren. It seems that doting on and spoiling
grandchildren aids their survival, as well as furthering some of their
grandmother's genes.
By contrast, men can reproduce well into their 60s and even 70s and 80s,
leading most researchers to assume this explained their longevity.
However, Lummaa and colleague Andy Russell wondered whether other factors
explained the long lifespan of men.
The researchers then compared the lifespan of men from polygamous
countries with those from monogamous nations.
The team then scored 189 countries on a monogamy scale of one to four -
totally monogamous to mostly polygamous, taking into account a country's
gross domestic product and average income to minimize the effect of better
nutrition and healthcare in monogamous Western nations.
"Our monogamy score is a crude first stab, and we're working to find
multiple ways to assess marriage patterns", Lummaa said. She also added
that the conclusions could evaporate under further analysis.
The study suggests that if female survival is the main explanation for
male longevity, then monogamous and polygamous men would live for about
the same length of time.
However, it seems that fathering more kids with more wives leads to
increased male longevity. Men, then, live long because they're fertile
well into their grey years.
This could be both a social and genetic explanation.
Men who continue fathering kids into their 60s and 70s could take better
care for their bodies because they have mouths to feed. But evolutionary
forces acting over thousands of years could also select for longer-lived
men in polygamous cultures.
Chris Wilson, an evolutionary anthropologist at Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York, who attended the talk, said the new study is a valid
hypothesis and a good prediction.
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at the bottom of the article.
For some, Gitmo interrogation techniques are a real turn-on
by Lisa Rose
New Jersey Star-Ledger
August 18, 2008
It's eerie dark in the exhibition hall at the New Jersey Convention Center
in Edison.
Usually, the room is reserved for trade shows. But this summer weekend,
it's been transformed into a 40,000-square-foot dungeon for sexual
Welcome to The Floating World, three days of suspended reality geared
toward those who explore extremes in carnality. The program encompassed
bondage, sadomasochism and role playing -- including Gitmo-inspired
interrogator/detainee "torture" sessions.
The private event -- no tickets sold at the door, no advertising anywhere
but the Web -- drew nearly 1,000 attendees of every sexual orientation,
from Jersey and beyond. The registration fee for the gathering, which ran
Friday through yesterday, was $125-$190.
The course catalog featured a mix of lectures about relationships and
hands-on safety workshops. There were lessons in whipping, caning, roping,
gagging, punching, burning, biting, spanking and "power flogging."
"Education is really important," says Dan Andersen, director of the
Floating World, a nonprofit event launched last year and named for an
Edo-era Japanese subculture. "If you take your education from the movies,
you're going to do a lot of bad things."
A sign of the times, the course list also included "Interrogation and
Torture Techniques." The class, which outlined how to fetishize Guantanamo
Bay and Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, was taught by an instructor with a
military background. The core idea of torture play is to integrate topical
imagery as a trigger to boost fear and stimulate endorphins.
"When we're using those references, it's to provoke a reaction,"
says Susan Wright, founder of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and an
author whose latest novel is titled "A Pound of Flesh."
"Anybody who protests us should ask themselves why they are not protesting
the reality of torturing prisoners. We're consenting adults. We might get
in a pool with each other and waterboard somebody, but the person can say,
'No, I don't like this.' They have a safeword." (Prearranged "safewords"
are established as a stop signal.)
Some arrived at the convention center in plain vanilla street clothes,
while others strutted their liberated stuff in body stockings, dog collars
and shoes that could double as daggers. Scattered amid the cars in the
parking lot were carts for "ponies," people saddled and harnessed like
Classrooms corralled the dungeon, a maze of not-so-comfy chairs, benches
and racks. Keeping watch were 22 dungeon monitors, eight medical techs and
a dozen security guards.
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Court overturns conviction of NYC's 'S&M Svengali'
by Adam Goldman
Associated Press
August 16, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) - A federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of a
man dubbed the "S&M Svengali" and ordered a retrial in a sensational
case that involved mutilation and humiliation.
Glenn Marcus, 55, was convicted of breaking a law that wasn't in place
when some of the offenses happened, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
said in a decision issued Thursday.
A three-judge panel said Marcus' March 2007 conviction in federal court in
Brooklyn violated the Constitution. The New York man was sentenced to nine
years in prison for abusing a woman he photographed for his Web site,
which reveled in sadomasochism. She was identified only as "Jodi."
Authorities used the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act to prosecute
Marcus for incidents spanning from 1999 to 2001. Marcus' attorneys argued
that the law was applied retroactively, and the appeals court agreed.
Prosecutors claimed Marcus crossed the boundaries of both civilized
society and the S&M community by holding his victim against her will.
The woman met Marcus in 1998 and agreed to be one of his "slaves." He
carved the word "slave" into her abdomen with a knife, shaved her head
and systematically punished her, according to the appellate decision. He also
forced her to write for the Web site while he kept every penny it earned
through advertising and membership fees.
During their last encounter, he beat and whipped her while hanging her
from a beam, then forced her to write about it on the Web site, the
decision said.
To read this entire article, go to:
Feedback letters are an effective way to convey a positive image of
alternate sexual practices such as SM, swinging, or polyamory. You can
help to correct negative social myths and misconceptions about these types
of practices. These letters help achieve the advocacy goals of the NCSF.
Generally, for a letter to be published, it's important to include your
name (or first initial, last name), city and daytime phone (for
verification only). For more information, see:
Please alert us to positive, negative or neutral stories about SM,
A project of NCSF and the Foundation of NCSF


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|Powered by QM on a Linux server
USB Demo
Ladybridge Systems and AccuTerm jointly demonstrated an "application on a stick" at the 2008 International Spectrum conference. This allows a user to carry an entire QM application and AccuTerm on a USB stick which runs without installing anything on the host PC.
To see the latest version of this in action, download the USB demonstration from the downloads page of this site and unzip it onto a USB stick. Whenever you plug this stick into a Windows PC, the application will start totally automatically.
Although the demonstration uses the Personal Version of QM, the technology is equally applicable to multi-user, fully licensed commercial QM systems.
To minimise the download size, the QM and AccuTerm installers are not in this zip file but can be found on the relevant web sites.