Popular Science Settles On Consensus Over Reporting Fact

Popular Science magazine cover that has as an article, "How to Prevent America's Next TRAIN CRASH" - funny, how now Popular Science is about trying to prevent the crash in the flow of America's research funding through shutting off comments that expose fraud. Image Credit: m5.paperblog.com

Popular Science Settles On Consensus Over Reporting Truth Based In Facts

This week saw an actual sea change and weak stomach for debate on consensus over publishing comments that argue for scientific method derived facts and the truth.

This excerpted and edited from PopularScience.com -

Why We're Shutting Off Our Comments
By Suzanne LaBarre - Posted 09.24.2013 at 8:15 am

Starting today, PopularScience.com will no longer accept comments on new articles. Here's why.

Comments can be bad for science. That's why, here at PopularScience.com, we're shutting them off.
----
Another, similarly designed study found that just firmly worded (but not uncivil) disagreements between commenters impacted readers' perception of science.

If you carry out those results to their logical end--commenters shape public opinion; public opinion shapes public policy; public policy shapes how and whether and what research gets funded--you start to see why we feel compelled to hit the "off" switch.

A politically motivated, decades-long war on expertise has eroded the popular consensus on a wide variety of scientifically validated topics. Everything, from evolution to the origins of climate change, is mistakenly up for grabs again. Scientific certainty is just another thing for two people to "debate" on television. And because comments sections tend to be a grotesque reflection of the media culture surrounding them, the cynical work of undermining bedrock scientific doctrine is now being done beneath our own stories, within a website devoted to championing science.
[Reference Here]

"How It Works" - Credit: Popular Science

The 'money quote' has to be:

popular consensus on a wide variety of scientifically validated topics

This is what Popular Science, the magazine and website, bases all of it opinion and articles on ... popular consensus. The fact that Popular Science is shutting down comments to their consensus derived articles proves that they admit to publishing Consensus over Scientific Method derived facts.

Since WHEN is Consensus a substitute for Scientific Method?

Not once is Scientific Method mentioned as the basis of information their articles are based upon. Their statement only alludes to popular consensus and scientifically validated topics.

Further, the editors admit to trying to shape public opinion through their publishing silo with this observation - "commenters shape public opinion; public opinion shapes public policy; public policy shapes how and whether and what research gets funded--you start to see why we feel compelled to hit the "off" switch." - and therein lays the rub.

Who holds the scientific community's feet to the fire when mathematical formulas and data are shaped so that results reflect the intent of the politically-motivated public policy. Follow the money.

The biggest problem with Popular Science is that the editors are nothing more than Progressive-Minded J-School Stenographers who report what has been bought-and-paid-for Consensus objectives, rooted in politically-motivated public policy, as opposed to reporting Scientific Method derived FACTS!!!

Does the mathematical fraud perpetrated by the University of East Anglia ever get reported and calculated into the Consensus equation? At Popular Science, now that they have hit the "off" switch on comments to their published articles - we, at Oblate Spheroid, think not!

The Northwest Passage Is Now Open For Business

In this mosaic image (created from nearly 200 images acquired in early September 2007 by the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument aboard ESA’s Envisat satellite) the dark gray colour represents the ice-free areas while the gray-green in the center represents areas with sea ice. The most direct route of the Northwest Passage (highlighted in the top mosaic by an orange line) across northern Canada is shown fully navigable, while the Northeast Passage (blue line) along the Siberian coast remains only partially blocked. Image Credit: ESA via ASAR

The Northwest Passage Is Now Open For Business

The Northwest Passage has long been held as a wish or a dream for those enterprises that had to move massive amounts of goods between Asia and Europe.

The Northwest Passage is now open here on the Oblate Spheroid. No longer will the large container ships (too large to fit through the Panama Canal) have to travel the bredth of the fattest part of this Blue Orb (hence the name Oblate Spheroid). These ships will just turn right from Europe or turn left from Asia and shorten the trip.

Some might say that climate change has its benefits. Container companies may now consider not trying to remake the Panama Canal so that it can handle larger ships ... at least until the climate change pendulum swings back the other way.

This excerpted from the European Space Agency website -

Satellites witness lowest Arctic ice coverage in history
European Space Agency - 14 September 2007

The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to its lowest level this week since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years ago, opening up the Northwest Passage – a long-sought short cut between Europe and Asia that has been historically impassable.

Leif Toudal Pedersen from the Danish National Space Centre said: "We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around 3 million sq km which is about 1 million sq km less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006. There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100 000 sq km per year on average, so a drop of 1 million sq km in just one year is extreme.

"The strong reduction in just one year certainly raises flags that the ice (in summer) may disappear much sooner than expected and that we urgently need to understand better the processes involved."

Arctic sea ice naturally extends its surface coverage each northern winter and recedes each northern summer, but the rate of overall loss since 1978 when satellite records began has accelerated.

The most direct route of the Northwest Passage across northern Canada is fully navigable, while the Northeast Passage along the Siberian coast remains only partially blocked. To date, the Northwest Passage has been predicted to remain closed even during reduced ice cover by multi-year ice pack – sea ice that survives one or more summers. However, according to Pedersen, this year’s extreme event has shown the passage may well open sooner than expected.

Envisat ASAR image of the McClure Strait in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, acquired on 31 August 2007. The McClure Strait is the most direct route of the Northwest Passage and has been fully open since early August 2007. In this image created from images by the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument aboard ESA’s Envisat satellite, the dark gray colour represents the ice-free areas while the green represents areas with sea ice. Image Credit: ESA via ASAR

The previous record low was in 2005 when the Arctic area covered by sea ice was just 4 million sq km. Even then, the most direct Northwest Passage did not fully open.
----

East Greenland – as featured on the International Polar Year website - Image Credit: Christian Morel

Because sea ice has a bright surface, the majority of solar energy that hits it is reflected back into space. When sea ice melts, the dark-coloured ocean surface is exposed. Solar energy is then absorbed rather than reflected, so the oceans get warmer and temperatures rise, making it difficult for new ice to form.

The Arctic is one of Earth’s most inaccessible areas, so obtaining measurements of sea ice was difficult before the advent of satellites. For more than 20 years, ESA has been providing satellite data to the cryosphere communities. Currently, ESA is contributing to the International Polar Year (IPY) – a large worldwide science programme focused on the Arctic and Antarctic.
Reference Here>>

As for our part on studying the polar ice caps, NASA is participating in the International Polar Year with the rest of the world and has put together a video explaining its involvement.

VIDEO TO BE PLACED HERE WHEN CONVERTED FOR EMBED

At Your Carbon-Creating Command

Happy landings: John Travolta's plane collection parked at his home in Florida – Image Credit: This is London Magazine Ltd

At Your Carbon-Creating Command

While traveling abroad by personal jet to London on a movie promotion tour, John Travolta granted an interview with the local press.

John, wanting to look every bit the liberal thinking Hollywood lock-step actor showed that he could carry-the-water for Al Gore and other mono-theorists who believe that human activity is the main component to our present perceived warming nature of Earth's climate change.

What is unfortunate is that John Travolta, the man, loves to fly JETS! He owns five of them and he justifies his flying because he, the man, is a corporation.

Dear John, please give this old, tired Oblate Spheroid a break and be truthful. You make a boatload of money, and you love to fly JETS and that is that ... do not lecture the rest of us who will never see your lifestyle until we, those of us who believe this way, reach heaven.

Excerpts from "This is London" magazine -

With five private jets, Travolta still lectures on global warming
London, Sunday 01.04.07

His serious aviation habit means he is hardly the best person to lecture others on the environment. But John Travolta went ahead and did it anyway.

The 53-year-old actor, a passionate pilot, encouraged his fans to "do their bit" to tackle global warming.

But although he readily admitted: "I fly jets", he failed to mention he actually owns five, along with his own private runway.

Clocking up at least 30,000 flying miles in the past 12 months means he has produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions – nearly 100 times the average Briton's tally.

Travolta made his comments this week at the British premiere of his movie, Wild Hogs.

He spoke of the importance of helping the environment by using "alternative methods of fuel" – after driving down the red carpet on a Harley Davidson.

Travolta, a Scientologist, claimed the solution to global warming could be found in outer space and blamed his hefty flying mileage on the nature of the movie business.


This is your captain: Travolta on tour for Qantas – Image Credit: This is London Magazine Ltd

But his appointment as a "serving ambassador" for the Australian airline Qantas doesn't seem to have much to do with the movies. Nor does a recent, two-month round-the-world flying trip.

"It [global warming] is a very valid issue," Travolta declared. "I'm wondering if we need to think about other planets and dome cities.

"Everyone can do their bit. But I don't know if it's not too late already. We have to think about alternative methods of fuel.

"I'm probably not the best candidate to ask about global warming because I fly jets.

"I use them as a business tool though, as others do. I think it's part of this industry – otherwise I couldn't be here doing this and I wouldn't be here now."
----
More recently, a gruelling promotional schedule for his two latest projects, Hairspray and Wild Hogs, has seen him fly extensively over the past year.

This includes a country-wide tour of the US and a visit to Canada as well as this week's appearance in Leicester Square.

Such prolific mileage means that, over the past 12 months, he has accumulated around 800 tonnes of carbon emissions.

According to a recent study by the government-funded Carbon Trust, this means he boasts a carbon "footprint" nearly 100 times that of the average Briton, who is responsible for 10.92 tons of Co2, from his flights alone.

One of the world's leading climate change businesses, the Carbon Neutral Company, has written to Travolta, suggesting ways he could reduce these alarming levels.
----
John Buckley, managing director-of CarbonFootprint.com, said: "John Travolta has such a high-profile celebrity status, so what he says carries an extraordinary amount of weight.

"So it is such a shame when someone of his standing is so outspoken about green issues, yet fails to practise what he preaches.

"Unfortunately someone of his standing ends up discrediting the cause itself, because he is saying people should protect the environment on one hand, yet travelling on a private plane on the other.

"Green issues are serious and should be treated as such.

"It is vital for celebrities to toe the line when they speak out in support of it." Reference Here>>

This is just tooooo rich, can't make it up!