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Climategate for dummies

The scientific journalist Peter Hadfield (a.k.a potholer54) has a couple of informative and entertaining youtube videos that explain and attempt to verify the claims made in blogs and mainstream media that the hacked emails of climate scientists are proof of a big conspiracy. If you somehow managed to miss the whole climategate saga, as I did, this is a good way to catch up.

Part 1:

I have word from a mathematician who wishes to remain anonymous, but who has fathered my children, that mathematicians also use the term “trick” to mean some clever idea for solving a problem. They even encourage their undergraduates to use tricks.

Part 2:

 

Peter Hadfield’s Youtube channel is potholer54 and includes lots of informative videos on climate change, evolution, the history of the universe and the scientific method.

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Comments

2 responses to “Climategate for dummies”

  1. wottsupwiththatblog Avatar
    wottsupwiththatblog

    Yes, I’ve often heard or read people claiming that the climategate emails are the smoking gun that proves that climate scientists can’t be trusted. Yet, when you read them it sounds just like how I would expect scientists to communicate. Of course, trying to explain that to those who are convinced that these emails are evidence of scientific misdeeds, doesn’t work very well.

    Reply
    1. Rachel Avatar
      Rachel

      It wouldn’t be terribly hard to pick specific words and truncate sentences and to turn those emails into whatever conclusion you wanted to convey, especially when you’ve got 13 years’ worth of emails to sift through.

      Reply

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