Monday
May302011
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Who are you?
May 30, 2011 Blogs I thought it might be interesting to find out who you all are, so here's a very short survey covering location, educational background and age.
May 30, 2011 Blogs
Reader Comments (76)
Thought so. We're a load of grumpy old men. (well, I am)
I choose Science graduate as my education, since there was no Engineering option.
I also chose Science ... but actually an Engineer (not the type that fixes washing machines, but the chartered type). There is a difference between science and engineering. Engineers tend to need to know science plus more.
Yes I am UK resident, but work in North and Latin America and Africa - so it's not that simple. But I too am a grumpy old man!
Don't forget us grumpy old women!
Well that was pleasant I'm not in the grumpy old man section :)
Since I appear to be banned from Richard Black's propaganda site for daring to suggest he was promoting John Gummers excellent idea of offshore windfarms on Dogger Bank. Or maybe it was through the idea of my 12 year old to suggest he suffered from "CARBOTHOXITHIA PHOBIA" but who cares.
First site every morning Bish at about 5.00 am your time great stuff and love the book.
Engineers are people who who make things work and the scientists then spend years proving how they work......
or
Engineers can do something for 6d which anyone else can do for £1.
"Engineers can do something for 6d which anyone else can do for £1."
That could be read the wrong way. ;-P
[Disclaimer: Masters degree, Engineering, grumpy old man ]
I lied
In fact I just lied again
and again, I always tell lies on surveys
Shame that you can only choose one qualification level (eg what to do with a science grad, law grad and legal post-grad ;-))...
Well, I suppose if you've got a BSc, you're a science grad. I have one in Intelligent Systems (BSc), which is a mixture of Computer Science and Irony :p.
The question is is ZDB a grumpy old woman or not?
BSc in engineering, but did 3 science A levels, sure the engineering bit increases the sceptic bit, you cannot engineer a production line with maybes and possiblies. It runs at the specified speed or you are out.
I'll tell you some more. I'm having a cheese an beer party tonight. I've just had some wonderful Danish Blue cheese and am washing it down with an ice cold Heineken. And I'm on my last night in Thailand before heading back to blighty tomorrow for 10 days.
I'm not particularly grumpy.
And I bet that none of us had the option of doing 'Climate Science' at University.
OK Pedant General -
Engineers can make something for 6d which anyone else can make for £1...........
As a grumpy oldie I don't like new money, kilometres, kilograms, litres or people who go into politics as a career!
I fall into a real minority on two of those questions.
Perhaps it would be informative to know the number of people with Engineering, Law, and Patent experience.
I must admit that the nearest I got to Climate Science during my degree course in Physics at Liverpool University was walking past the Oceanography Dept (i.e. very close!).
However, I do remember being struck by the way that Physics progressed over the centuries through a well accepted Scientific Process. When I heard how Einstein postulated his general theory of relativity and proposed an experiment that would prove him wrong I was amazed and delighted. I compare this with Phil Jones' statement that he was not even going to release HIS data because "you will only try and use it to prove I'm wrong". QED.
UK, 60s, BSc with long term career in industrial chemistry in the nuclear power industry. You MUST know your stuff but then you have to apply it in a highly technical/engineering industry.
I learnt to challenge everything. I became one of the "3 Whys Men":
Ask "Why" 3 times. If each time I got a clear, straightforward reply each time then I could relax and use the material. If after the 3 Whys / Why Nots I was getting into bluster, ad homs, "Why are you challenging this, it's obviously true" etc. etc. then I knew there was something wrong that needed following up.*
Can't imagine where the CAGW concensus fits in ...
* I know it's a bit more complicated than this but the principle worked.
Spot the non-deliberate mistake. Sorry.
I'm English but live in Italy now I'm retired.
Did science A-levels and 1 year of a science degree but then left to join the RAF as a trainee pilot, but when I failed advanced instrument flying I went into IT and worked in that for almost 40 years...
UK, 60s, BSc & PhD in physics with long term career in the nuclear industry. No assumptions allowed, everything based on evidence, everything done in the open and independently checked, computer models verified and validated, everything archived.
Just like climate science in reverse.
13.5 people from Australasia. I know 2 others, so I'm just looking for the 10.5
Architect? Guy who knows next to nothing about almost anything and is just now learning that he was wrong about 'next to nothing' always being signed positive.
Bish, you need a couple of more bins in your survey.
"couple of more bins"
Disposition?
Post grad in law. I didn't feel like that was an option. :(
Enough with the grumpy old scepticism. We at CRU are proper scientists with payroll numbers and everything. Well, just payroll numbers, truth be told.
I went tornado chasing with my son, the meterologist, last Tuesday. I think that's pretty remarkable for a grumpy old man (70+).
As a New Zealander, I find the term 'Australasia' unhelpful. Wouldn't Australia/NZ avoid any chance of us plumping for 'Oceania'? I'm unsure of the rigid technicalities of that definition but we are part of the Pacific.
andyscrase - 13.5 people from Australasia. I know 2 others, so I'm just looking for the 10.5
Oz, early 60's, PhD Theoretical Physics although SWMBO refers to me as a half wit on occasion. So put me down as the 0.5. BTW, where does the grumpy old man level kick in?
What's an American J.D. on your list of choices?
@GrantB
where does the grumpy old man level kick in?
You're never too young to be a grumpy old man, just as you're never too old to have a happy childhood.
RogerT @ 7:08 PM
Sorry to hear they flunked you on advanced instruments.
My old man spent a year at the bottom of the class in the 3rd form. After being turned down for the RNZAF, went to Britain and managed to join the RAF ("What's that?", he asked, when asked about his algebra marks!) Nine years later (in 1945) left the RNZAF with rank of Wing Commander and 82 operations behind him. For some people, school is an impediment to education.
Times must have changed by the time you came along.
Sad that we're mostly knocking on but not surprising.
@andyscrase Australasia here, the pretty but shaky part (and without all the poisonous animals). And apparently one of the younger readers, still in my 40's. BSc in computer science with a good helping of math and physics. MSc dropout when someone offered me a job.
Also a glider pilot which makes me rather interested in weather-related phenomena and I take a good hard close look at clouds of various types on a regular basis.
I know Mike Borgelt, a glider pilot and glider instrumentation maker in the other half of Australasia hangs out here too. Any others?
Where does most of Central America fit: ¿Oceania - Atlantic and Pacific? NOT South America¿?
BSc Engineering (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Production), with a career in computer systems... a Brit based in Hungary.
Perhaps like many with this profile...
a) Endearing trait: never afraid to say "Yeah right. Bullshit."
b) Annoying trait: see a)
Realised long ago Climate "science" and IT Marketing share a common GHG...
Vapourware.
or
the ability to solve a problem you did not know had, with something that actually does not exist yet.
Well, I'm a grumpy old accountant, with a BA in Psychology, loads of training in statistics, practical experience in chart reading, where mistakes mean loads of money lost, and a lifetime evaluating investment proposals and the underlying assumptions.
So yes, I feel qualified to sniff out underLYING assumptions in the fledging science of imaginary climate dreamtime conjectures.
I'm a science graduate, but a humanities postgraduate. I selected the science graduate option, but the options shouldn't be mutually exclusive.
Australia, PhD in Classical Greek, Grad. Dip. in computer science, have been writing specialist software for processing and analysis of longitudinal data (mostly time series) for 20 years. First exposure to climate science was deciding that long temperature series would make for some interesting stress tests. Still recall with amazement my reaction on the first plot at seeing how dead flat 150 years of daily data was on a Y1 scale of 0 to 50C. "Is that all they are talking about?" Soon found my way to the early Climate Audit and verified for myself the cogency of Steve McIntyre's many criticisms. Have been following developments with increasing dismay ever since.
My PhD dealt (among other things) with the application of sophistry to political and social debates in Greek Tragedy. The basic intention of sophistry is to make the worse appear the better cause. The techniques for doing so (argument from authority, redefinition of terms, selective evidence, etc) I found to be regularly in evidence among the hot-heads, but only rarely (if ever) among the sceptics.
My political leanings are traditionally in line with the weak leftism of the 1970s arts student milieu. I lurk mostly. My overriding concern is to maintain the values of the Enlightenment.
Andyscrase says:
@GrantB
where does the grumpy old man level kick in?
You're never too young to be a grumpy old man, just as you're never too old to have a happy childhood.
I totally agree. I'm now 65 and can't remember when I wasn't a Grumpy Old Man
Engineer, 40s (just), working in Antarctic research for 27 years. Definitely grumpy and lovin' it.
For the benefit of our Guardian readers you forgot the "beard" question.
No.
And I do not drink real ale either.
How do I turn off responses ???
Engineer, always worked on new things small bore coax, PCM and then onto multimedia so MSc in computer science. first ADSL in UK, probably Europe, in 1994. Not me personally by that time I was far away from the front line to be just about able to hear the rumblings of battle.
Agree with all above that Engineering is about trusting no one. Was a fund provider for research both in academia and private industry, worked with the SERC, where I experienced first hand the hunger for funding.
1,340 responses by 08:30 UK time (double click on Quibblo.com)
Very interesting.
Something I'm finding interesting is that almost everyone responding (and presumably reading) is of an age to have missed the worst of the modern PC and propaganda-infected education system.
DaleC:
“My PhD dealt with the application of sophistry to political and social debates in Greek Tragedy. My political leanings are traditionally in line with the weak leftism of the 1970s arts student milieu. I lurk mostly. My overriding concern is to maintain the values of the Enlightenment”.
You’re not alone. Can you imagine Big Oil wanting to finance a bunch of freaks like us?