Methinks They Doth Protest Too Much…

For some strange reason, the Global Warming “Alarmists” are out in force decrying the Global Warming “Deniers.” The cover story of this week’s issue of Newsweek is titled The Truth About Denial. And Al Gore was in Singapore (what was the carbon footprint of his private jet trip to Asia) proclaiming

“There has been an organized campaign, financed to the tune of about $10 million a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community. In actuality, there is very little disagreement… This is one of the strongest of scientific consensus views in the history of science. We live in a world where what used to be called propaganda now has a major role to play in shaping public opinion.”

If the consensus was so strong and the global warming deniers so crazy, one would think that there would be no need for such a concerted effort to marginalize the non-believers.

Let’s look at the Newsweek article. Talk about a hack job. The  article is an editorial disguised (not very well) as news. You would be hard pressed to find a more one sided article on www.moveon.org.

As the article begins, Sen. Barbara Boxer relates how after a meeting with the head of the IPCC, she was approached by a staffer who claimed that a conservative think tank funded by ExxonMobil had offered scientists $10,000 to write articles undercutting the recent IPCC report. Turns out this is quite the exaggeration. In fact,while the AEI is a conservative think tank, they received $1.6 million over 7 years from ExxonMobil, less than 1% of total revenue for that time. The money was a standard honorarium offered by the AEI and in this particular case, the request was for scientists to review the latest IPCC report in light of the uncertainties highlighted in the previous IPCC report.

Another claim the Newsweek article makes is that the ExxonMobil has given over $19 million over the years to the Competitive Enterprise Institute to produce what Sen. Rockefeller called “very questionable data” on climate change. No mention of the $3 BILLION that Richard Branson has donated to “combat global warming”, or the multiple millions donated to environmental groups to spread the message of the impending doom that global warming will wreak on the world. One estimate suggests that the those who believe humans are responsible for the current warming have received over $50 Billion.

The Newsweek “article” also points out the money that certain global warming skeptics have received (specifically the $165,000 Patrick Michaels received from the coal industry), while painting global warming alarmists as impartial. For example, NASA’s James Hansen is portrayed as a level-headed climate scientist struggling to communicate the dangers of global warming. I suppose the $250,000 Hansen received from a foundation headed by Teresa Heinz Kerry (shortly before he endorsed John Kerry for president) doesn’t count.

I could go on outlining errors, exaggerations and distortions, but you get the picture.

And then there is Al Gore proclaiming that there is a conspiracy to discredit the IPCC and it’s conclusions. I was a History of Science major in college, and for Gore to proclaim that the idea of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is one of the strongest consensus in the history of science is laughable. But then again, if we aren’t all convinced that CO2 is the most evil of all gasses, how will Al sell his carbon credits?

The Future of Computing

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but if you haven’t seen the recent demos of surface computing, you should check it out here. It’s some pretty cool stuff. Of course it’s Microsoft, so expect to wait until version 3.0 until the bugs are out…  but still, I want a surface computer as my desk!

The Magic of Disney

I just spent a long weekend at Disney Word with the family and we had a great time. We went to EPCOT, Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom and managed to hit all of the major rides. After this weekend, I think I can sum up the magic of Disney in one word – LOGISTICS.

Sure the rides are fun, the themes are vibrant, and the sounds, smells and smiles are something only Disney can create. But what really makes everything click is Disney’s mastery of logistics. We stayed at the Saratoga Springs Resort, which is a few miles away from the parks. Not once did we have to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus to pick us up and take us where we wanted to go.

And once we got to the parks, it was clear that Disney has things down to a science. The openings were on time with “cast members” there to ensure there was no mad dash to the most popular rides. FastPass machines at the most popular rides made it easy to void lines (although I was amazed at the number of people who would rather wait 35 minutes in a line instead of going away, doing something else, and coming back an hour later to a 5 minute wait).

Of course all of the lines are set up so that people have something to look at as they wait. The winding paths and the different rooms for the line make it so that no one looks at the line and gets discouraged. Finally, the estimated wait times posted at the end of the line are probably a bit on the high side, so that patrons are pleasantly surprised when they get on the ride in 10 minutes rather than 20.

So – what rides were the big winners with our family? Amazingly the classic Space Mountain seems to have withstood the test of of time – I can recall riding on it when I was 10 – and it was the favorite ride. Other winners were:

• Thunder Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Kali River Rapids
• Expedition Everest
• EPCOT’s Test Track
• Dinosaur

The biggest disappointment: Pooh’s Adventure. I guess the kids are just a little too old…

No Static at All….

Steely Dan has always been one of my favorite rock groups, probably because of the jazz influences that are so prevalent throughout their music. The chord changes on a lot of their songs are quite sophisticated, and the harmonies and voicings are tight and hip. Add to that Donald Fagen’s notorious focus on the quality of the recording and you get great music.

I remember getting the Aja album for my 11th birthday and listening to the song “Peg” over and over, and it quickly became one of my favorite songs. This video gives you some insight into exactly how the song came together. Pay particular attention to the comments about the guitar solo and how Michael McDonald had to work hard to get the harmonies right. Tight harmonies are tough!