Truth v. The Machine » Archives » The Value of Value-Added Data

November 29th, 2009 by Mr. D

The AGW theory is based on science, right? And settled science, right? The Times of London has learned something about the data at the East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (CRU):

SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.

It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.

What a shame. We’ll just have to take the CRU’s word for it. So what did the scientists keep?

In a statement on its website, the CRU said: “We do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data.”

It would be a wonderful world indeed if we could all rely on “value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data.” You’ll be happy to know that I’ve checked my “value-added data” and I am actually the King of Portugal. You might be a winner, too! So what does it all mean?

The CRU is the world’s leading centre for reconstructing past climate and temperatures. Climate change sceptics have long been keen to examine exactly how
its data were compiled. That is now impossible.

Roger Pielke, professor of environmental studies at Colorado University, discovered data had been lost when he asked for original records. “The CRU is basically saying, ‘Trust us’. So much for settling questions and resolving debates with science,” he said.

My son’s 8th grade math teacher expects her students to show their work. You would think that the world’s foremost repository of climate information, which is the backbone for just about everything we know about AGW, would be able to do the same. You would be wrong. The worthies at East Anglia might flunk out of my son’s 8th grade math class, but we should have no compunctions about fundamentally altering the way the world works because of data they can’t produce. Makes perfect sense. But that’s okay — we know it’s true, because we do trust the East Anglia CRU, right? They wouldn’t lie to us, right? There’s no reason to question Al Gore and his pals, because they wouldn’t steer us wrong. It’s those nasty skeptics who are standing in the way of Progress again.

That little December 10 soiree in Copenhagen ought to be pretty interesting. I can forgive the president for getting his protocol screwed up and bowing to the Japanese emperor. But he’d better damned well not bow to the East Anglia CRU.

Posted: November 29, 2009 at 11:12 am
Under: The Warming, The face of the Left | 2 Comments »

Trackback | del.icio.us | Top Of Page

2 Responses to “The Value of Value-Added Data”

Lloyd Says:
November 30th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Ok, so I’ve been reading the harry_read_me.txt file from the ftp site http://di2.nu/foia/HARRY_READ_ME.txt

Holy crap is that system a mess. As a developer I can assure you that any reporting done from a database so foul would be utterly useless and if all CRU has kept are those values then CRU and the values they swear buy are garbage.

Second, there are a few companies and organizations we should likely get comment from.

1.) http://www.Globus.org – the company that wrote the software suite the developer is constantly ripping on. Judging by their site theirs is widely used application in the climate industry and they will either need to defend CRU’s data or completely throw them under the bus. In either case, their software needs to be audited as well in order for any globus mased science to be accepted as truth.

2.) Tyndall Center -
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/content/linking-computers-together-produce-integrated-assessments-climate-change Part of east anglia apparently, relies on Globus systems as well.

3.) CEOS.Org – an organization that leverages globus as well as CRU data. A good question would be, what controls are in place to ensure that their other data sets aren’t as corrupt as the CRU’s? http://idn.ceos.org/portals/Home.do?Portal=ceos&MetadataType=0
Brighten Your Property With Landscape Lighting | Landscaping Ideas Says:
December 25th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
[...] Truth v. The Machine » Archives » The Value of Value-Added Data [...]