the clueless american

An open letter to the guy with the white turtleneck in the Juneau Public Library today:

Sure you looked very studious with your backpack and your college books laid out on the table. Your fellow students probably thought you were researching an upcoming term paper or studying for an exam as you sat there in the corner of the upstairs conference room in the Juneau Library. What you failed to notice, however, was that right over your shoulder was a 1300-person cruise ship. The Lido deck dining room was the perfect height to look right at the internet porn you were viewing on the library's free wireless service. Those of us on the ship were really hoping you'd turn around at least once so we could point and laugh or at least give you a thumbs up. Next time try to have a little situational awareness, huh?

Let's say I was collecting data on something for about 200 years. The first 100 or so aren't very reliable, but let's give me the benefit of the doubt and say I have good, hard data for a 200-year period. I now turn around and use that 200 years of data to predict both forwards and backwards--sometimes as much as a million years in either direction. Is that good science or is it craziness?

Before you answer, consider that the Global Warming camp is doing just that. When pressed they openly admit no data or hard evidence to support any claim that goes beyond the late 19th century, but that doesn't stop them from scare tactics such as declaring that we're nearing the warmest point in the last million years.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not denying any scientific evidence that the so-called greenhouse gases might be contributing to the planet getting hotter. I'm merely asking that we stick with science and not jump to wild speculations designed to grab headlines and secure more funding.

Check out JunkScience.com for more information on the lack of scientific method in many of the popular claims you've seen on TV from people purporting to be scientists.