Sunday, December 16, 2007

Censoring Science

is a new book by Mark Bowen on la Affair Deutsch/Hansen and other follies. Bowen, clearly has talked directly to Hansen. In addition to the usual Barnes and Noble and Amazon pages, there is a rather long review at DailyKos, with an interesting tidbit

"Consider if you will the New Horizons mission to Pluto. It has zero to do with climate change. But the probe carries a nuclear power supply, meaning it cannot launch without an executive order for national security reasons. All an unscrupulous administration need do then, to sow doubt and bitter division against the scientists and staff studying earth’s climate within the broader NASA organization, is imply through unofficial, unwritten backchannels that that order will never come, until certain researchers play ball."

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

"...imply through unofficial, unwritten backchannels that that order will never come, until certain researchers play ball."


Of course, there are other, less politically hazardous ways of sending a message and achieving one's political goals at the same time.

Anonymous said...

oops, try that link again

Anonymous said...

The New Horizons mission was launched and underway, so much for cliams of threats.

The DSCOVER/TRIANA spacecraft had a designed mission life of only two years, at a cost of 100 million dollars. That is hardly a bargain for a glorified TV camera and there is little valuable climate trend information that can be had in 2 years.

While I used to think it would be cool, now I think it is another one of Gore's dumb ideas.

Hansen isn't being censored, the guy is a megaphone. What a load of BS this book is.

anthrosciguy said...

QrazyQat here, and a bit confused by Anon#3. #3 seems to be horrified that approx 50 cents is leaving his pocket to pay for 2 years of Triana. If #3 will simply leave his address, I'll be happy to send him 50 cents to make up for this massive outlay.

Anonymous said...

Hey QrazyQat. While everyone appreciates your offer, and Anon 3 did make comments as to value, his other comment is more relevant. Old Rabett is now out there promoting the conspiracy theorists, and Anon 3 is rightly pointing that Hansen is the one very very very obvious example of someone who has not been censored. What is also very very very obvious is that Rabett, Hansen and co want very much to silence those who disagree with them. My 50 cent worth, anyway.

JohnS

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:06 claims: "The DSCOVER/TRIANA spacecraft had a designed mission life of only two years, at a cost of 100 million dollars. That is hardly a bargain for a glorified TV camera and there is little valuable climate trend information that can be had in 2 years."

Nice that you have proclaimed yourself the expert on the DSCOVR mission.

You obviously have no clue how idiotic your statement is.

Here's a summary of what DSCOVR would do and, contrary to your claims, it would gather critical information about Earth's solar energy balance:

"reflected and emitted radiances over a critical angle range with unprecedented accuracy. Such accurate measurements will help refine and test our understanding of climate, climate change, and the Earth's radiative processes. In particular, the measurement of the near-infrared and visible parts of the reflected radiation may shed light on the issue of excess cloud absorption observed by Nimbus 7."

And the decision to mothball the already completed spacecraft for which NASA has already been given $100 million is clearly political.

NASA refuses to even let NOAA (or anyone else) take over the project.

Dano said...

What is also very very very obvious is that Rabett, Hansen and co want very much to silence those who disagree with them. My 50 cent worth, anyway.

Ah, yes. Silencing = pointing out their lying BS.

Sure.

Best,

D

Anonymous said...

And the National Academy of Sciences assessment of the DISCOVR/Triana mission was HARDLY consistent with the claim made by anon 7:06 above: "a glorified TV camera and there is little valuable climate trend information that can be had"

here's what the National Academy said:

"The task group found that the scientific goals and objectives of the Triana mission are consonant with published science strategies and priorities for collection of climate data sets and the need for development of new technologies. However, as an exploratory mission, Triana's focus is the development of new observing techniques, rather than a specific scientific investigation. The apparent spaceflight heritage of some of the Triana technology and the applicable legacy of the data reduction algorithms should contribute to the achievement of the mission's objectives. The task group concluded that the planned measurements, if successfully implemented, will likely contribute to Triana's stated goals and objectives. "

"The task group also found that the Triana mission will complement and enhance data from other missions because of the unique character of the measurements obtainable at the L1 point in space, which allows continuous imaging of the full sunlit disk of Earth and monitoring of the space environment upstream from Earth. Furthermore, the full-disk Earth observations provide a unique perspective from which to develop new databases and validate and augment existing and planned global databases."

Anonymous said...

yeah, the NAS also said bristlecone pine proxies are problematic

oh well

Hansen is a qwack, he gave 400 media interviews before complaining of being censored

Anonymous said...

Actually, Hansen gave a lot of interviews after appointees tried to censor him. You know, like directives from 24 year olds with no experience, no qualifications, no degree and a faulty resume, but who performed well in the campaign spin room. Or as the administration might say, "the most competent science-type person we've ever hired."

Anonymous said...

For some, the answer to any challenge always boils down to "The hockey stick is broken and Hansen is a quack".

Quite a powerful argument.

Yes, indeed.

Anonymous said...

Very powerful argument Anon 4.25pm. Mann's false hockey stick from 1998 keeps on appearing in 2007 studies. It wasn't the warmest in a millyun then, still not now. Faith warmers censor any alternate argument, and attack the person.

Hanson has become the high priest for the faithwarmers. To say he has been censored is a joke. But of course you want to believe that- the martyr syndrome. I'm more than happy to have Hanson speak his mind as the more he does so, the more foolish he and his faithwarmer band appear.

JohnS

Anonymous said...

JohnS said: "I'm more than happy to have JohnS speak his mind as the more he does so, the more foolish he and his denialist band appear."

I could not agree more.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

JohnS said: "Hanson has become the high priest for the faithwarmers"

It's "Hansen" (with an e), not "Hanson".

I know it's a very difficult name for some to spell -- and even more difficult to say out loud, without blowing a head gasket -- but with practice, I suspect that even you can do it (at least the spelling part).

If you are going to despise and hurl vacuous insults at someone, at least get the person right, OK?

Walt Bennett said...

Hansen was in fact censored, then brought it to light, then worked out a deal so he could speak his mind freely. Is there any need to debate that? He hasn't always been censored; the current administration did that. I suggest there's nothing more to be wrung from that story.

Mann's hockey stick keeps reappearing because the debunkerati won't let it go. Real science has long since moved on from Mann et al's original, crude effort. The study concerned itself with the last 1,000 years, not 1 million. There have been no credible studies since then which overturn Mann et al's basic asertion that the sudden rise in temperature in the late 20th century is anomalous over the previous 1,000 years. I believe that reliable estimates now go back 1,400 years.