Climate Science relies on Wikipedia .... NOT.

Jan 10, 2020 at 12:40 PM Phil Clarke

All people, including politicians, teachers, pupils, activists that have ever been influenced by the UK Green Party's very own William M Connolley and his corruption of Wikipedia should blame him, and hold him and the Green Party financially liable.

Thank you!

Can those that fund Climate Science at the ABC and BBC afford their own financial liabilities or will they have to cease funding Climate Science altogether to pay up for the UK Green Party's William M Connolley?

Meanwhile, back at the thread:

Sea Level keeps falling at record rates since the construction of Harlech Castle with direct access to the sea.
Less dramatic, but sea Level keeps falling around the Cinque Ports in Kent, since they were deemed essential to the defence of England. Knut knew nothing about sea level and his legacy lives on in Climate Scientists

Sea Level keeps falling at record rates since the construction of Harlech Castle with direct access to the sea

Longshore drift caused the formation of a spit of land into the estuary of the river Dwyryd, over time the lagoon formed between the spit and the land gradually filled in with sediment from the river, creating a marshy stretch of land which now separates the castle from the sea.

Coastlines move. So what?

Jan 10, 2020 at 3:32 PM Phil Clarke
What has Long Shore Drift got to do with falling sea levels, particularly at Harlech Castle and the Cinque Ports? Was that William M Connolley's explanation, because he can't fiddle with visual evidence?

The castle's present-day distance from the sea is everything to do with (GCSE level) geography and nothing to do with sea level.

http://archive.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/gcrdb/GCRsiteaccount1886.pdf

I'm reluctant to keep the off-topic comments on this thread, as should by now be obvious, but in answer to Phil, he could try a look at this:

https://volunteerfirefighters.org.au/green-tape-prevents-volunteer-rural-firefighters-reducing-bushfire-risk

It's 6 years old, admittedly, but it is written by people who know what they're talking about.

Or this, rather more recent, from the same people who know what they're talking about:

https://volunteerfirefighters.org.au/the-greens-not-climate-change-are-to-blame-for

The current bushfires in Australia are awful and catastrophic and their causes are probably complex and varied, but they are not unprecedented, and to blame climate change, without acknowledging other factors, and seeking to exonerate "green" policies from all and any blame, is not IMO an accurate assessment of a complex situation.

Now, can we get back on topic?

And there's this:

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/lets-tell-the-burning-truth/news-story/ae30e22c69a0a9a7fe4141bc4e9442a8?fbclid=IwAR3lyjd9JegnEtnbdI3Hl_Xs3imLccf3cCnT8lgw04yDjMuhDQjQ-i80fZs

Also 6 years old, but rather undermining Phil's claim that the Greens have never held power in Australia:

"WHENEVER a major bushfire catastrophe occurs in Australia, the victims are essentially told to shut up.
It happened after Victoria's Black Saturday fires in 2009. It happened after the Canberra bushfires, 10 years ago on Friday. And it's happening now in Tasmania.

"Now is not the time for that conversation," says the Tasmanian Minister for Emergency Management, David O'Byrne, avoiding questions about why adequate hazard reduction burns were not done in cooler months to remove fuel from the path of inevitable summer fires.

It's just too early, claims Premier Lara Giddings, presiding over Tasmania's ALP-Greens coalition.

But the residents of Dunalley, whose town was overrun, and the farmers whose properties and livestock have been wiped out, want that conversation right now."

Sorry, that last comment got mangled. The words that were intended to conclude it should not have appeared in the middle of the comment, but at its end, obviously!

"The current bushfires in Australia are awful and catastrophic and their causes are probably complex and varied, but they are not unprecedented, and to blame climate change, without acknowledging other factors, and seeking to exonerate "green" policies from all and any blame, is not IMO an accurate assessment of a complex situation.

Now, can we get back on topic?"

the build up of fuel load that has been allowed by “green” protestors and councils banning or otherwise forbidding appropriate clearance of the fuel-load to minimise the effect when a fire starts.

In your imagination maybe, but strangely unremarked in the annual report of the Rural Fire Service, which does state that fuel reduction efforts were inhibited because of the prolonged drought.

As for Harlech Castle, and your claim that its distance from the sea is “only” due to longshore drift, please explain why the docks of the castle are so far above sea-level, if the sea-level has not fallen?

Huh? What 'docks'? There was a water gate which opened to a path down to the sea, a considerable distance below the main castle, reached by descending 127 steps. (there's a picture of a 14C reconstruction on the wiki page), which allowed resupply from the sea. Nothing remains of the docks, there's a level crossing there now apparently; my interpretation of the relevant OS map shows the elevation totally inconsistent with a sea level drop.

This stuff is so ludicrously out of touch with reality that it scarcely seems worth answering, but it is nevertheless published in a major newspaper and reproduced by the VFFA. Presumably, somebody believes it.

Australian Independent.

https://twitter.com/SimonChapman6/status/1212846826795106304

https://twitter.com/newscomauHQ/status/1214796374874587136

Jan 10, 2020 at 8:03 PM Phil Clarke
We're you reading the 39 Steps whilst failing "O" Level Geography?

"It's 6 years old, admittedly, but it is written by people who know what they're talking about."
Jan 10, 2020 at 7:47 PM Mark Hodgson

Honest assessments untouched by Climate Scientists are so much more helpful.

The Green Blob are now trying to build an environmentally destructive smokescreen to hide their activities and motives from Australians and the rest of the world. Australian Country Bumpkins are not as gullible as those townies that read Phil Clarke's Skeptical Science with its Hot Line to the the BBC and The Guardian.

The Green Blob and Hockey Teamsters have always run from honest debate and legal action they have instigated, and as Australia's future now depends on preventing more massacres by the Green Blob, it will be interesting to see if Private Prosecutions or Criminal Charges follow.

I don't know anything about the structure or funding of Australia's Fire Services, but the firefighters themselves, volunteer or paid professionals, are unlikely to voice support for policies that compel landowners to leave litter all around their property.

I wonder if we could have a record number of prosecutions? If Mann stays long enough, some of the Accused could call him as an Expert Witness.

A record year so far for lies and misinformation. Includes a cartoon by Josh

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/01/10/friday-funny-dont-get-mann-handled-choose-the-right-answer/

Australia sets new record for 2020. 8 Peer Reviewed Scare Mongering papers from one University.

If this dramatic rate continues, that will be more than twenty per month, so at least 450 for the year, using Climate Science's expertise in statistics and corrupt computer modelling. The paper is by Clark (without an "e")

https://www.thegwpf.com/peter-ridd-scientific-misconduct-at-james-cook-university-confirms-my-worst-fears/

"Clark et al. (2020) found 100% replication failure. None of the findings of the original eight studies were found to be correct.

All the erroneous studies were done by scientists from James Cook Universities highly prestigious Coral Reef Centre. They were published in high profile journals, and attracted considerable media attention."

"Climate Science relies on Wikipedia .... NOT.
Jan 10, 2020 at 12:40 PM Phil Clarke"

Why did the Hockey Teamsters corrupter-in-chief bother will his deceptions? (This was from 2014)

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/29/you-only-need-to-read-a-few-climate-entries-on-wikipedia-to-know-this-spiked-online-article-rings-true/

"We have watched how people like Wikipedia climate fiddler William Connolley rides shotgun on just about any climate related article on that website. As of a year ago Mr. Connolley has edited 5428 Wikipedia articles, almost all on climate and his zealotry earned him a suspension and banning for certain types of articles."

Time for Australians to pour cold water on Climate Scientists, and then flush.

http://joannenova.com.au/2020/01/fires-are-not-where-the-heat-is-theyre-where-the-fuel-is/

that Simon Chapman?

A real prince of poisonous dimwits.

oh dear, oh dear

That's Emeritus Professor Dimwit to you,

https://simonchapman6.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/full-curriculum-vitae-with-direct-links-to-most-publications.pdf

Oh... we are not worthy ..... Simon Chapman is not the sharpest knife in the drawer these days and did sterling work over a number of years in getting junk science into the media - "vaping is like asbestos and carbon monoxide" and won't appear if there's a chance of a challenge.

He's a self important stagestruck windbag sociologist ferchrissakes who's on ABC and other MSM rent a gob / "go-to guy" quick dial list of public health and climate pundits - emeritus professor eh ?

Some call him "self-appointed chief wowser to the nanny state"

Meanwhile in Lancet they're doing serious science that Professor Chapman might recognise.

We have watched how people like Wikipedia climate fiddler William Connolley rides shotgun on just about any climate related article on that website. As of a year ago Mr. Connolley has edited 5428 Wikipedia articles, almost all on climate and his zealotry earned him a suspension and banning for certain types of articles.

This nonsense was first excreted by Lawrence Solomon and keeps getting repeated by the likes of James Delingpole et al, also on this blog on at least five earlier occasions . Obsess much? Here's Connolley's rebuttal (again).

This is either technically true, or wrong, depending on how you interpret “re-wrote”. If you use an edit counter you can discover that I have, to date, edited 5,474 unique articles, so it has gone up by a few since LS wrote (actually I wouldn’t swear that total didn’t include talk space, but never mind). But that raw number is nearly meaningless, because it includes articles such as Aesop, where I reverted vandalism, Berkhamstead Castle, where I added a picture, I removed the S word from the CRA , and… I’m sure you get the picture. I can’t quite make it up to Z, but I did remember the XAP2. If you want to know how many articles where I’ve valiantly kept at bay the forces of wacko-dom, you need something more intelligent than an edit counter or a Delingpole.

From <https://wmconnolley.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/a-childs-garden-of-wikipedia-p/>

Clark et al. (2020) found 100% replication failure. None of the findings of the original eight studies were found to be correct

Good to see the scientific self-correction mechanism working as it should. Good, also, to see you now accepting a peer-reviewed scientific paper (when it suits). Also from the abstract:

Using data simulations, we additionally show that the large effect sizes and small within-group variances that have been reported in several previous studies are highly improbable.

Another word for a data simulation would be a 'model'. So models are OK now.

Progress!

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1903-y

Further attempts to shift the focus of this thread. Why is the original purpose so dangerous that it needs to be diverted so blatantly?

Jan 11, 2020 at 1:20 PM AK
BBC News items will have the News Anchor person use "unprecedented", the video footage will have commentary scripted with "unprecedented" and so will the report from the live outside broadcast.

The public are beginning to notice that these scripted stories are getting very repetitive.

Phil Jones managed to erase most of the UHI effects from the Global Warming data records with his secret Vanishing Chinese data trick., Hockey Teamsters managed to block Inconvenient Climate Science from publication, William M Connolley managed to vanish Inconvenient science from Wikipedia. Phil Clarke's latest manifestation is not Unprecedented

There does seem to be Unprecedented Panic amongst Global Warmists about unpublicised records of previous weather events that do not match the patterns defined by Hockey Teamsters and programmed into their models.

Thanks for getting back on topic!

Some time ago I picked up a book called "Since records began - the highs and lows of Britain's weather" by Paul Simons, first published in 2008, so it is no doubt now out of date as being more than a decade old. I will probably be told that many of the events mentioned have been overtaken by the "unprecedented" weather records since then. However, the book is a collection of events compiled by an author who is at pains to acknowledge climate change, and it merely puts current events into a longer-range context. In doing so, it is my submission that it demonstrates that current events are not so remarkable as claimed, and that if one troubles to acknowledge history, there is much less reason to be alarmed than the average climate hysteric would have us all believe. Which is what this thread is supposed to be about really. As and when I find a moment, I'll post some extracts on this thread. The first one is coming up next.

The Long Drought - Spring 1893

"The spring is more forward than has been known for many years. It is to be feared, however, that the excessive drought is doing serious injury to grass lands and green crops of all kinds; and in many places there is a great scarcity of water." This report sounds very familiar, but it actually was written in April 1893 in Appleby, Leicestershire during the longest drought on record in Britain.

There was no rain recorded whatsoever in many places from the end of February to mid-May. Mile End in East London broke the UK record for the longest continuous run without rain: 73 days from 4 March to 15 May. Perhaps most remarkable of all, the drought stretched across most of Britain, except for western Scotland.

It was also the warmest spring on record. Spring flowers bloomed unusually early - a weather observer in Addington, Kent was amazed to see his plum trees in full blossom in the last week of March. Hot sunshine blazed down and for seaside resorts the holiday season began ridiculously early, attracting thousands of day-trippers. Eastbourne basked in some seven hours' sunshine a day in March alone, and Torquay recorded sunshine every day from April to June, notchin up 93% of the maximum sunlight possible. In fact 1893 was one of the sunniest years on record across southern England.

...It was one of the driest Aprils ever known, with many farmers unable to sow cereal crops. By May, plants were becoming scorched, crops collapsed and the hay crop was a disastrous failure. "This truly remarkable season makes one think summer is over; gooseberries are ripe, currants ripe and full coloured. What flowers shall we have for the summer when it comes?" described a weather observer in Haverfordwest, Wales. Large-scale wildfires broke out on heaths and woodlands, and plagues of wasps appeared in mid-May.

...Life in the cities became increasingly unpleasant. "A curious indication of the long drought has been observed in the neighbourhood of Fleet Street, swarms of rats having invaded some of the lanes leading down to the Thames," the TImes reported on 15 May. "The sewers are apparently dry, notwithstanding the liberal flushings which the streets receive in the early hours of the morning, and the rats are famished. They have been described by an old inhabitant of Fleet Street, who caught 17 in one night, as like rabbits in a warren. This is a new form of plague, although not so troublesome as the mosquitoes which made life miserable in Fleet Street last year.

Part of the problem was that by the 1890s a new system of fresh water was piped to some half a million households in London, and with WCs to flush and baths to fill, most people took it as their right to have as much water as they wanted. But with the drought the supplies of water dwindled and the private water companies that supplied the water asked their customers to cut down on water use, a familiar cry over a century later. It did not seem to make much difference, though, and water shortages steadily worsened as reservoirs dried up.

...Although the spring of 1893 was record-breaking, it was not that unusual and was only part of a run of dry years stretching from the mid-1880s to 1909, a remarkable period called the 'Long Drought'. Some of those years actually had wet summers, but they still suffered water shortages through lack of winter rains. It is the rains from April to November that are so critical, because this is when rains replenish most of the underground reserves, rivers and reservoirs, without losing water by evaporation from the ground, trees and plants.

The effects of the Long Drought were stark. In 1884-85, water supplies were so restricted in many towns in England that water was sold by the bucket in some places. In one emergency, water had to be delivered by train in milk cans to parts of Lancashire in August 1887 and served out to people by station masters. That same summer thousands of men were thrown out of work in quarries and tin works in north Wales when local reservoirs ran out of water. As rivers dwindled they rapidly turned into sewers, and at Mountain Ash in Wales typhoid broke out. The lack of water in rivers also brought Lancashire mills and workshops to a standstill, barges could no longer work along canals nd boats ran aground in rivers.

During the 1890s there was a run of four successive dry winters, the lowest rainfall in a 123-year drought record, and especially bad in the English lowlands. There has been no drier September-April period recorded since for England and Wales.

In 1895, a ten-week drought left wells without water and reservoirs sank to staggeringly low levels. That brought even worse water restrictions, with more than half the houses in West Ham, London without water. "The drought is very serious. The ponds on the high grounds are dried up, and the cattle have to be watered by carts. Hay will not be half the average. And cherries, plums, damsons, and apples have suffered", reported the Daily Mail of Slough on 6 June 1895.

"A remarkable drought is being experienced in Devon and Cornwall. And the water supply of Plymouth and other towns has become so short that even water required for domestic purposes is only turned on for a limited period. With the exception of a slight rainfall at the beginning of last month the drought has lasted since the middle of March. Agriculturalists are suffering severely", reported the Bristol Times and Mirror, 1 July 1895.

The insanitary conditions caused an alarming increase in infant deaths, mostly from diarrhoea. There were also fears of a lack of water for fighting fires when many street fire hydrants, which by law had to be supplied with water, were found to have run dry, and firemen had to wait for supplies to be turned on.

The Long Drought was a devastating blow to agriculture in what was already a great agricultural depression that had begun in the 1870s with a run of wet summers that ruined harvests....the long drought of the 1890s tipped farmer into an even steeper decline - agriculture's contribution to the national output fell from 1/6 in 1867-69 to less than 1/15 by 1911-13. Farmers simply gave up their farms, and farm rents collapsed in the arable areas of eastern and southern England.

...The following year, 1896, from January to June there was less than half the normal rainfall. During August 1898 householders in east London were restricted to four hours' water a day...

...Since the 1890s, water demand has soared more than five-fold, water leakage continues to be a huge problem...a recent study of the history of droughts in Britain suggests that over the past 50 years we have enjoyed a largely benign period of climate. In fact, prolonged dry periods are not unusual for our climate, and if we have a repeat of the Long Drought, it could set off a crisis in modern Britain. As Terry Marsh, hydrologist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, explained: "We could see drought patterns return to the sort of variability we've seen before. The surprise element is that most of us have grown up in a situation where winters have been relatively mild and wet, certainly in the past 30 years."

Mark Hodgson,
Interesting extracts! I note the references to navigable waterways and their inability to deliver goods. This is the same issue that prompted construction of the Whaley Bridge Dam.

Management of water, levels/flows/supplies has been used for thousands of years for irrigation for fields, drinking and sanitation. The Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans were experts and some Roman installations remain functional. They were all capable of doing sums and calculations prior to commissioning massive civil engineering projects.

They must have recorded rainfall rates to balance them with demand for water, but their noncomputerised notes are lost.

In the UK, water Mills and their locations are recorded back to medieval times (Norman Domesday Book?) For water mill owners, water storage and engineering to ensure a steady supply of milled flour was important. Milled flour does not store as easily as unmilled wheat.

The development of storage ponds for water Mills, or construction of dams, weirs, sluices etc required masonry and timber engineering skills, ironwork was rarely used. Evidence for this survives.

Again, no records of rainfall survive, but they must have been recorded at the time.

Watermills, bridges, weirs, pubs, coach houses and associated out buildings were some of the few structures that were worth building out of stone/brick on the floodplain, knowing that they could survive being swept away, and could resume business as normal once floodwater had dropped. Many of these sites still flood 500 years later during Unprecedented flooding.