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Concensus versus Truth–Global Warming, Babe Ruth, and Rickey Henderson

The other day, a friend sent me an article from the KNS  about recent temperatures in East Tennessee, presumably trying to convince me that global warming is real and that the temperatures and phenomena in this area for the past 20 years prove it.  All of this stemmed from a conversation we had a few days before about global warming, whether or not humans are causing it, and who (individuals or governments) should do something about it.  Disclaimer:  I feel it necessary to state at this point that this is not a post on global warming.

The guy who sent this article is one of the smatest people I know–easily in the top five amongst my friends, although that may not mean much :), when it comes to raw intellectual power.  He is well educated in the sciences, with an engineering degree from a university who’s program is respected nationally.  I think it is safe to assume that the scientific method is still taught and practiced there and was part of his training.

My surprise isn’t that he believes in global warming.  I am more intrigued that he is willing to argue the causes, which he believes to be humans, based on scientific concensus while completely dismissing facts proven by the scientific method.  He doesn’t dismiss all of the facts mind you, just the ones that don’t support his opinion.

Okay…no more global warming.  Let’s shift gears and talk about baseball and how these topics are related. Continue reading “Concensus versus Truth–Global Warming, Babe Ruth, and Rickey Henderson”

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Free Market at Work in the Blogosphere

There is quite a soap opera going on at Just Another Pretty Farce regarding Mrs. Coble’s issues with JL Kirk & Associates.

Here’s a quick synopsis:

  • Mr. and Mrs. Coble felt ripped off by an employment agency, and she blogged about it.
  • JL Kirk & Associates got mad about that, and one of their employees posted some comments on to her post on Mrs. Coble’s site (that was stupid). These comments were rather nasty, especially coming from a company trying to defend itself publicly.
  • Mrs. C. has now received a letter threatening a lawsuit if she does not remove her post(s) about JL Kirk & Associates as well as all associated comments. I suspect this has little to do with their desire to eliminate her original post, and more to do with the venemous comment one of their own employees left there.
  • Countless people will now read the account of what happened, most of whom probably would not have read the account had she not been sent a threatening letter and had it picked up by the blogosphere.
  • Many more people will view JL Kirk & Associates as scam artist jerks than ever would have before. Whether they are scam artists and/or jerks is beside the point. They’ve gone a long way through their comments on Mrs. C.’s blog and by sending a letter to give that impression.

Their own actions will hurt them significantly more than Mrs. Coble’s ever could have. You have to love the free market.

Here are some highlights of the comments left by a JL Kirk & Associates employee in her original post:

And by the way, in Mrs. Cobles’ [sic] case, we would recommend (free of charge) to further her writing “career” she learn to spell “wizardry” and polish her grammar and punctuation skills.

Well, couldn’t we all use a little help there now and then? But free of charge? That’s going above and beyond helpful!

…Mr. Coble has had difficulty with sustained upward mobility.

Is the writer trying to stoke some sort of class warfare fire?

That comment is simply stupid.

This could be broadly applied to most comments on most blogs, but usually isn’t what one says when trying to win over an audience. I seriously doubt you’ll hear that in a presidential debate, although it wouldn’t be untrue.

Mrs. Coble’s spiteful meanness precluded her from asking me about it.

Mean and spiteful? I like Mrs. Coble!

Do a Google search on Katherine Coble! She is an angry, opinionated basher of many things

I don’t need to do a Google search. This statement sold me. From this day forward, I vow to be a reader of Katherine Coble’s blog and to never do business with JL Kirk & Associates out of fear that they will send certified junk mail to my house and an unprecedented amount of traffic to my blog.

On second thought…

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Poker Police Strike Again

Reason tells us about raids in Georgia, North Carolina, and some especially dangerous card sharks in Dallas.

I don’t get to play as much poker as I would like, but luckily, I’ve never been involved in a home game that was broken up by a S.W.A.T. team.  I’d like to believe that this is mainly due to the fact that our state and local law enforcement realize it would be a stupid waste of time.

However, I fear that home poker games will be next on their list, as soon as they can rid us of the social scurge that is cock fighting.

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Jeopardy Odds

Carl Bialik blogs on numbers for the Wall Street Journal. Here’s a fun post about the recent 3-way tie on Jeopardy. It mostly talks about the accuracy of the calculation that the odds of a three way tie on Jeopardy is 25 million to 1. Very interesting.

I don’t know why it never occurred to me before reading this article to wager on Jeopardy. I used to watch it with friends faithfully, and it seems like a natural thing to gamble one…way better than horse racing or football.

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Don Imus

Okay.  I’ve officially spent too much time on this.

Let’s get on to something important, like who’s getting custody of Anna Nicole’s baby.

NEXT!

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Global Warming Facts and Concensus

I wish I had more time to dedicate to writing a longer post that would remind my friends trained in the sciences about the strength of the scientific method and the differences between facts and theories.  For now, this aricle will have to do.  Matt Maschinot’s point in the article’s comments goes says just about all that needs to be said:

“Does anyone else find it a little unnerving that one of the greatest observations is in the history of man – Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity” is still – even after being empirically confirmed 100’s of times, without a single contradiction – relegated to the lowly status of ‘Theory’? While GW, while not having a single corroborative case, is considered by many to be scientifically proven ‘Fact’.”

Take the time to read this entire article.

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More Important Legislation in Tennessee

This one will require mandatory HIV testing of PIMPs (Prostitution Industry Management Professionals).

This has taken things too far.  It’s about time someone stand up and push for deregulation of PIMPing.  It has gotten to the point that PIMPs are so busy filling out gov’ment paperwork and making sure they are abiding by all of the codes that they hardly have time time to concentrate on their core business–smackin’ ‘ho’s and foldin’ bank.

Free market enthusiasts unite!  If the state continues to create more and  more bureaucracy for sex industry management professionals Continue reading “More Important Legislation in Tennessee”

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Apologies to the Thompsons

Looks like I inadvertantly angered a couple of Fred’s relatives who read Bob Krumm. Sorry about that…didn’t mean to issue fuedin’ words.

If you are a fan of my biting humor (I did it mostly for you, Shizzle Van Dizzle) and sarcasm you may find it worth a read. If you are not, that means it has probably been directed at you in the last few days and you are still pouting about it. When you get over the fact that I hurt your feelings and realize that everything I say is mostly joking with a little bit of truth, go back and read it.

Seriously, Bob maintains a really informative site with frequent updates, good regional information, and some great original thought. Because his site is ad-free (unlike mine), you know he’s doing it just because he loves it. I read it every day. Check him out.

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Gingrich and Kerry to Debate

Not presidential though, it’s climate.  What once was touted as a concern for humanity has now officially been polarized by the Republicrats as a way to sell books and get some “look at me” time.  Jeremy Jacobs has the full story.

I couldn’t help but be amused by this:

“As a father, when someone tells me that within the next decade, if we don’t deal with global warming, our children and grandchildren may deal with global catastrophe, that tells me I damn well better do whatever I can to help make Washington deal with this responsibly,” Kerry added.

Really?  When someone tells me that we’re headed towards a global catastrophe, it tells me that I damn well better figure out if this guy is full of shit before I work myself into a panic unnecessarily.

I tried to find something in there to make fun of Newt as well, just to be fair, but couldn’t.  Continue reading “Gingrich and Kerry to Debate”