Expert opinions...

[Bill Marquardt]

Here are a couple of actual comments I have heard on the radio from "experts". Something to think about if you are doing research for a story.

#1
Reporter: "How do you explain the unusually cold weather that so many areas of our country are experiencing, in light of the global warming you say is going on?"

Expert: "Well, actually, warm weather in one part of the globe can stimulate cold weather to occur somewhere else in the world."

#2
Reporter: "It's been raining for most of the past month. At what point will we actually be out of the drought."

Expert: "A lot of people like to point at the rain we're having and believe the drought is over. Let me tell you, it could rain every day for two years. That wouldn't mean we weren't having a drought."

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Anybody else have something?

[jedipoteat]

I don't get the global warming part. Is that supposed to be a dumb answer? This is somewhat a pet peeve of mine. It's the idiot's view to think that the world is composed of these disconnected locations that don't have anything to do with one another. Weather patterns are extremely complex beasts and the expert did the best he could do to simplify the fact that when drastic temperature changes occur in one location of the world, another location CAN be effected in the exact opposite way. Global warming doesn't just mean that every place in the world calmly raises a degree or two. It means the average temperature of the globe rises causing, among other things, much greater fluctuations in normal seasonal changes.
I will agree that experts may not know every single detail about the subject they have chosen to devote their entire lives studying. I would, however, put my money on them knowing more about that subject than a common reporter.

[Bill Marquardt]

I challenge you to prove your assertion that because India is warmer, California will be colder.

In a friendly way, of course.

[Neurotic Writer]

Temperature is a zero-sum game, Bill, don't you know that? While the warm get warmer, the cold just keep getting colder... :lol

Seriously though, I read something about the "Butterfly Effect" at some point. The assertion being that a butterfly flapping its wings in China could be the cause, through a network of reactions starting with the breeze the wings create, of a hurricane in Florida...

I challenge you to dispute that! ;)

NW

[RE BACH]

Consider this bit of half-baked understanding, most commonly seen and heard in the media:

'The Richter Scale is logarithmic, therefore each whole-number increment of scale increase represents a ten-fold increase in earthquake intensity. For example, a 7.2 quake has ten times the intensity of a 6.2 quake.'

[jedipoteat]

I can't personally challenge that. I'm not a meteorologist so I haven't studied the various cause and effects of complex weather patterns. I have much trust in those that have done so and of every one I have heard discussing the results of global warming they ALL seem to have the same opinion on the matter. Could be a coincidence.

As a side note, insurance companies seem to have the same trust in these guys because, based on the opinions of these experts, they are spending billions of dollars to try and stop global warming because they have been convinced that the rising temperature does more than just make northern winters more pleasant. I can't see those stingy bastardos spending that kind of cash without having been thoroughly convinced that some major damage is on the way and they know they will be the ones footing the bill.

I have to admit that I was once given an explanation for why temperature changing in one location can effect the other and, though it made perfect sense to me at the time, I seriously doubt I could reproduce it without making a fool of myself. So I guess my rebuttal ends here. Now that you have my interest peeked I will have to research this more so the next time I have this conversation with someone I will have some foundation with which to speak.

[Bill Marquardt]

Ah, yes, amigo. Chaos Theory. I might just know a bit more about that than I let on. ;) For the record, the "expert" in question did not have a clue. All he knew was that the average temperature of the earth, "as measured", had increased by one-half degree over a period of years. He blamed this on all sorts of man-made causes, without a whit of empirical evidence or any knowledge of the history of temperature cycles over the eons.

Unrelated to the above, a champion female long distance runner was quoted as saying that the reason winning race times were increasing rather than decreasing was due to global warming. Hasn't anybody ever heard of SCIENCE? Since when do we rely on unsupported opinion and hearsay?

While my abbreviated and condensed version of the interview above may make me out an idiot in the mind of at least one person, I would suggest one make himself familiar with scientific journals going back to the early 1950's to garner a more balanced perspective on the so-called global warming phenomenon. I, for one, shall not move to Nevada in anticipation of the rising ocean inundating California. Maybe next millenium. Pteranodon - please come to my rescue!

And back on topic - anybody else heard something that sounded a little out of whack from a so-called expert?

[PteranoDon]

Global warming? Hey, I'm all for it. We've had 24" of snow this winter.

I once heard a TV weatherman say that the reason the Red River is so prone to flooding is that it's mouth (that's where the water dumps into Hudson Bay) is higher in elevation than it's source. The two happy talk news anchors he was telling this to just accepted it as fact.

When I started college in 1971, all the talk was about global cooling and the coming ice age. This was based on temperature trend data from WWII that was slightly downward for about 25 years. Sometime in the 70's, the trend started upward. About the time people got excited about "Global Warming"--early 90's--the trendline went flat.

The problem I have with the whole global warming thing is that the parties insisting that it exists and that we should do something radical about it all have a vested interest in the global warming hypothesis being true.

Yes, that includes the Sierra Club.

Meanwhile, the proponents and apologists say the most outrageous things. El Nino? Global warming. Tornados? Global warming. Heavy rains? Global warming. Drought? Global warming. I'm surprised that they haven't included mad cow disease in this list.

Every decade some new horrible awful disaster is predicted and the only solution is to turn control of all human activity over to a newly formed world government. We do nothing and the disaster goes away. Don't believe me? Read Paul Erlich's "Population Bomb".

I used to get all worked up about this kind of stuff, but, after 4 or 5 of these "Chicken Little" episodes, well, let's just say that Ducky Lucky is following Henny Penny now.

[Bill Marquardt]

Thanks, P'don. I am glad to know that someone else has been paying attention all these years. I also remember the media warning us that we were on the leading edge of a pending Ice Age and predicting doom and gloom. I don't know what happened to all those experts who made that forecast. I suppose our younger people just don't realize that the media frenzy over "global cooling" was just as prevalent back then as the one over warming is today, though for a much briefer time.

Maybe that's the problem. I have no faith in anything these experts say, because they have been so wrong so often over the past four decades. So even if that butterfly in Tibet really is causing snow in the Sierras, I just don't believe it.

But, HEY! I wasn't really trying to start a debate. I was looking for amusing anecdotes. (Like the one about the Red River.) Now I may have to move this thread to One on One. :)

Anybody want to debate my contention that believers in Quantum Theory have to make the same leap of faith as does a believer in a religion? (ex: the appearance in space of two particles of opposite charge out of "nothing", in a reversal of time wherein the particles actually combine to anihilate each other.) :D

[jedipoteat]

Bill,
In no way do I think you an idiot and apologize for any such suggestions. I did not intend to aim the idiot remark in my first post at you. I agree that the media over hypes and misconstrues many scientific theories and beliefs. Global warming is something I believe in and do not compare it to other "sky falling" predictions. I'll end that here without any more arguments.

On a lighter note, I don't have any funny expert opinions but I do have a list of some funny misworded headlines (and real):

Include Your Children When Baking Cookies

Something Went Wrong In Jet Crash, Expert Says

Police Begin Campaign To Run Down Jaywalkers

Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted

Drunk Gets Nine Months In Violin Case

Survivor Of Siamese Twins Joins Parents

Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

Prostitutes Appeal To Pope

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over

Eye Drops Off Shelf

Teachers Strike Idle Kids

Clinton Wins On Budget, But More Lies Ahead

Enraged Cow Injures Farmer With Ax

Plane Too Close To Ground, Crash Probe Told

Miners Refuse To Work After Death

Juvenile Court To Try Shooting Defendant

Stolen Painting Found By Tree

Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years In Checkout Counter

Killer Sentenced To Die For Second Time In 10 Years

[Bill Marquardt]

No offense was taken, Jedi. Unlike some of our (former?) members, I do not take what is said on this board too seriously or personally. I have the ability to laugh at myself. I am not nearly as serious as I sound sometimes.

Anyhoo, those are some great headlines there. I am reminded of the leaflets I saw in the local grocery store entitled, "How to fix broken chocolate".

One story I can tell that amuses me, but maybe not others, goes like this: I have always been something of a UFO buff, but I retain a lot of skepticism. The fact is, most "flying saucer" reports are explainable. Several years ago, I took up the hobby of Astronomy. I was gazing at the low western sky one late evening and saw an airplane headed directly at my home. I knew it was an airplane because I saw the flashing red and green lights. I watched the airplane for several minutes and realized it wasn't moving. It couldn't have been a helicopter. My mind started racing and I imagined I was witness to a real live UFO.

I am not sure why, but I decided to look at the star chart in my <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Sky and Telescope<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> magazine. I discovered to my chagrin that I had been observing Arcturus, a very bright star. It seems that when a bright star is low on the horizon, the evening atmosphere with its rising air and water vapor can cause light refraction which makes the light from a bright object appear to shift alternately from red to green. Go outside on a clear summer evening after dusk and you can observe this phenomenon yourself.

Now what made this funny to me, and relates to this thread, is that a few months later I was listening to the radio and they were interviewing a UFO expert. He described how his group had gone into the desert and was sending light signals into the sky (something like in <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Close Encounters of the Third Kind<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->) in an effort to communicate with aliens. He and his group were astonished and humbled when they received an answer from a spacecraft. "There it was. Low on the horizon. It appeared to be hovering in one spot, very slowly descending toward the horizon. It was flashing red and green lights at us in response to our signals. We couldn't make out a pattern, but we knew we had made contact. It was a very profound moment for all of us."

Yes, folks. It really is possible to mistake Venus for a space ship. I wonder how many people heard that broadcast and were convinced that they had heard real evidence of aliens visiting the Earth?

[jacinthee]

Pretty funny stuff, Jedi.

Bill, now that this thread contains the words "anecdote" and "quantum physics", I can't help but wonder:

If Schroedinger's cat leapt off a building, would it land on its feet?

Just wondering, of course.

Jacinthe

[Bill Marquardt]

Jac. - Only if an observer were there to see it. :)

[jacinthee]

Bill - But does it have feet? And if so, how many? And can a cat land on, say, 3 feet (if that's what it has) without wobbling out of control and falling to its side? What if it's not a cat?

Darn physics. I'm outta here - going back to existentialist questionnings. Black holes suck (!), long live nothingness.

:smokin (I need a sipping coffee emoticon...)

[Neurotic Writer]

Hey, we could use Quantum Physics to explain why your car wasn't where you thought you'd parked it, Bill...

Watch:

You parked your car on Grant Ave., six blocks up the hill from Telegraph Ave. ... and then you marched on down to Raleigh's, where you stayed for four hours. During that time, nobody drove or walked up Grant avenue and nobody observed your car... sub-atomic particles shifted, errant nomadic electrons migrated, and Grant avenue became Dwight avenue (which explains why you remembered the street starting with a "G", but also since you were aware of the "shift in reality" at a subconscious level you somehow "knew" that your car was on Dwight) and your car dis-assembled itself on the sub-atomic level, became a chaotic, formless "cloud" for a spell, and then re-assembled itself three blocks closer to Telegraph Ave. ...

THAT explains it!

NW ;)

(You know what's funniest about this whole thing? I actually subscribe to many of the assertions of Quantum Theory... and yes, it is a religious leap of faith ;) )

[Bill Marquardt]

S[-(h/4pmj)sj2y]+(2p)Vy=-id/dt

I think that sums it up nicely.

But I'll go with your explanation. I believe it's called the "tunnel effect". I know it wasn't the three ales at Raleigh's. Maybe the UC Berkeley linear accelerator had a leak.

[Dragonslayer02]

I always love it when CNN calls in the military experts and Scott O'Grady appears.

Dude, he got SHOT down. That qualifies him as an expert? Moron, probably. Expert no. Having seen the satellite images of that specific aerial engagement, the range fans of the air defense radars, and read the warnings he disregarded, I'd say definitely a moron. But, it's Monday and I'm being generous.

DS2