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Dec222014
by 
Josh
Josh Happy Christmas!
Dec 22, 2014 Josh ;)
Wishing all the BishopHill readers a great holiday and a well deserved rest.
Posted by Josh
Dec 22, 2014 Josh 
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Reader Comments (50)
A Happy Christmas to Andrew, Josh and all the good readers.
And a prosperous New Year to all the non-green-blobs and the non-troughers.
All the very best to you and yours Andrew and to all in your extended BH family!
Christmas greetings to the skeptical denizens of the bishopric. May the New Year bring logic and reason and sanity to the Earth.
Are there any more diesel generators for the local council streets lights that have been turned off and turned down the Labour party are complaining about to help guide Santa on his merry way.
Apparently plunging the country into darkness but Ed can delight himself thinking of all that nasty wasteful Carbon that has been saved.
Even Scrooge saw the error of his ways eventually.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Happy Christmas, and a peaceful New Year to you all.
Well, Bish, you must be getting ready to don your robes to deliver the Christmas services! <G>
Merry Christmas to you and yours from this side of the pond.
Happy Christmas to all, may your generators not be needed.
Merry Christmas Josh and Bishop Hill from small dogs everywhere...
https://fenbeagleblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/21/merry-christmas-2014/
Is that a christmas bell-end
A Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you all.
"Ahh," says Santa, "Diesel do!" As he delivered to the back(up) stor."
Happy Christmas everybody, and an enlightening New Year.
Happy Christmas and a Sceptical New Year to you too Bish and all who dwell in your realm.
Enjoy a well deserved break from your labours, Andrew, and let us all hope for some sanity to be restored in 2015.
A Happy Sceptical Crimbo to you all; and here's hoping that the high winds we're currently experiencing in Powys and the Marches will turn a few more bird-mashers into fiery catherine-wheels to add to the festivities.
This should make your Christmas happier ,,,
A review of the book "CLIMATE CHANGE THE FACTS 2014" by about 24 authors.
The best and most relevant chapter in this new book is that by William Soon, namely Chapter 4 "Sun Shunned" in which he discusses things such as the eccentricity of the Sun's orbit that I have also pointed out as the principal regulator of glacial periods.
The rest of the chapters on the "science" do not discuss the valid physics which is really what does determine Earth's surface temperatures. Instead the "lukes" all reiterate the false claim that carbon dioxide causes significant warming of the surface by radiative forcing. Nowhere is the assumed process of forcing actually discussed. We just get the usual false paradigm that carbon dioxide traps outward radiation and thus supposedly makes the surface warmer.
Carbon dioxide does not trap thermal energy. It disposes of what it absorbs either by subsequent radiation or by sensible heat transfer (via molecular collisions) to other air molecules which outnumber it by 2,500 to 1. It also helps nitrogen and oxygen cool through such collisions, and may subsequently radiate the energy thus acquire out of the atmosphere.
All radiation between regions at different temperatures can only transfer thermal energy from the warmer region (or surface) to a cooler region. This means all heat transfer in the troposphere is generally upwards to cooler regions, with a proportion always getting through to space. There is no thermal energy transferred to a warmer surface. The energy transfer is the other way. The Sun's radiation is not helped by radiation from the atmosphere which is only sending back some of its own energy now with much lower energy photons. Radiating gases reduce the insulating effect by helping energy to escape faster, and that is why moist air in double glazed windows also reduces the insulating effect, just as does water vapor in the troposphere.
Nowhere in the book do we see the surface temperature explained correctly using Stefan Boltzmann calculations. No one ever does this, because it is an absolute stumbling block for climatologists. The mean solar flux entering the surface is only about 163W/m^2 after 52% of the solar radiation has been either absorbed or reflected by the surface, clouds or atmosphere. But such a low level of radiation would only produce a very cold -41°C. That's even colder than what the IPCC claims would be the case, namely -18°C without greenhouse gases. They deduce that by assuming that the whole troposphere would be isothermal due to convective heat transfer, including sensible heat transfers by molecular collision.
Hence all the "luke" authors fall for the trap of not actually explaining the existing surface temperature, let alone what carbon dioxide might or might not do. How could you work out the latter if you don't know your starting point? The truth is that you cannot calculate the surface temperature of any planet that has a significant atmosphere by using radiation calculations. Hence all the considerations pertaining to radiation and absorption by carbon dioxide are totally within a wrong paradigm.
That assumption by the IPCC (and thus by the "lukes" who have written this book) that the troposphere would be isothermal was rubbished in the 19th century by some physicists who understood the process described in statements of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It is still being rubbished to this day, and even more so, now that physicists realise that the Second Law is all about entropy increasing to the point where there are no unbalanced energy potentials. In a gravitational field this state of thermodynamic equilibrium is attained when all the energy potentials involving gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy and radiative energy balance out. That is when the environmental temperature gradient is attained, and the very fact that it exists enables us to explain all planetary surface temperatures (and the required energy flows) without the slightest reference to back radiation, let alone trace gases like carbon dioxide. Only water vapor has a significant effect in lowering that gradient because of its radiating properties. It thus cools the surface, and that puts a big spanner in the works for the IPCC et al.
Does Santa (in the cartoon) symbolize the polarization of the debate?
Merry Christmas to Josh, Andrew, and the denizens here, and a happy and healthy 2015 to all !
I second the good wishes of mike fowle for more sanity, and add a hope for less antagonizing commentary. Surely we can all do with less discussion of people's supposed motivations, and more discussion focused on the science (or certainty thereof) and policy.
A very Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to the Bish, Josh and the commentators of Bishop Hill - better relax while we can, something tells me 2015 is going to be a busy and interesting year!
Christmas and New Year greetings to all from Down Under, especially to our esteemed host, who sacrifices his precious time to provide this admirable venue for his sometimes unruly parishioners.
Eat, drink and be merry, folks! Build up your strength for the year ahead, 'cause I think it's going to be a crucial one for the politics of climate.
Happy Christmas Josh, and thanks for a consistently on-point year! The same too to the Bish and all commentators here. Thank you.
Just to round out the year with a few words of wisdom from care in the community personified:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/energy-and-climate-change-secretary-responds-to-new-agreement-on-climate-change
Huh????
Καλά Χριστούγεννα
A very Happy Christmas to everyone from here in Greece.
A very happy Christmas to Andrew, Josh and all who frequent this site.
I am looking forward to learning how the blob intend to tax and use "reindeer power". Clearly it is green, organic and renewable. Could it be used to fly jetsetting green activists around the world, without a carbon footprint? Works well in wiindless moonlight.
A merry C and a happy NY, my lord bishop.
Very Happy Christmas to our Host, Contributors and Commenters ... you all continue my life education.
Holiday greetings to all.
This week's New Yorker magazine includes some "Climate Change Christmas Carols."
Here is my feeble, unworthy contribution...
"Good King Wenceslas went out,
Feeling rather rotten.
Not a flake of snow about,
Children have forgotten..."
I thought Santa only gave gifts to those who have been good?
A very merry christmas to all, even the naughty MPs and ebeneezer theresphysics!
A very happy Christmas to Andrew, Josh and all who frequent this site.
May those who believe in "Climate Change" suffer black outs, so they see the light!
Well, yes, Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to all.
That man in the red suit doesn't look merry or happy.
I'm always interested in the posts and comments for what they tell me about people and goings on in places I've never been. The diesel generator of the cartoon is one such thing. Small generators, usually gasoline, are found in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho) and beyond primarily as support to recreational activities.
Recreation
Our house is 100% electric with low cost power from Columbia River dams. Sometimes a falling tree or errant auto takes the lines down. This has happened several times in 25 years. The longest outage has been 4 hours.
We are grateful. Merry Christmas.
Happy Christmas to all
Have a good time and stay warm (or cool, if you are in the southern hemisphere, like me)
God jul och ett gott nytt år.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
"So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself".
Sun Tzu
A very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year Andrew, Josh and all the contributors to BH.
Here is a Christmas present for you all:
http://www.northern-times.co.uk/News/Anger-as-turbine-crashes-to-earth-for-second-time-19122014.htm
May many more collapse as long as nobody gets hurt.
Merry Christmas all and keep up the good work your Holiness.
And from Ireland also
Nollaig Shona Daoibh
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année to all, from the French contingent!
May there be concentrated merriness for all in this parish over Christmas! And may we all enjoy a further spreading of the light in 2015.
Inch by inch, row by row
We're going to make the rascals go
All it takes is to look don't you know
For their case is so unsound.
A merry Christmas to the Bish and to you all. I wish it could be as good as last year when I spent the whole festive period laughing at the antics of the ship of fools. I might go back through the archives and see if I can re-live the fun for a while.
DIESEL will soon mean DIE SELLOUTS
Andrew, you're doing a fine job. Keep up the good work! Have a good Christmas.
Happy Christmas to one and all - but - Josh - where are those wind turbines shown in close proximity to the Palace of Westminster..?
I thought Westminster politicians just wanted us 'proles' out in the sticks to be lumbered with the things..
I shan't ever, EVER, take government 'renewables' policies seriously until there's a sodding great wind turbine on College Green...
Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year, Josh.
Keep up the good work!
Merry Christmas your Grace, & the Happiest of New Years to you & yours!
Nice one, Josh. Shame it's not gunpowder, though.. :-)
You forgot treason and plot, James! :)
"unruly parishioners"? Never!................hmm on reflection um - well maybe;-)
The wise shepherd watches his flock keenly.
Christmas happiness and blessed cheer to you and your nearest Andrew and to all ye who browse here - the faithful and those less so.
Happy Christmas one and all. Nice touch 'Love from National Grid' on the little label, and even more subtle ribbon hue.
Just to say Merry Christmas to BH, Josh and all the regulars and lurkers - and lang may yer lums reek.
And a slightly belated Happy Christmas from a warmer than average (but not for much longer!) Burgundy.
A few straws in the wind perhaps to suggest 2015 could be verrry interesting.
Sante!:-)
[Bloody "smart" phones! Or my fingers!]
A Happy Christmas (and two turtle doves) to all. I echo everyone's good wishes, especially HaroldW's - attribution of motives is soooo boring!
Interestingly (and a happy New Year to all BTW) diesel generators are ubiquitous in developing countries as covers for breakdowns in central electrical stations and distribution networks, which is why urging further development of coal generation in such places is really neither economical (you have to pay for the diesel generators and the coal generating stations and the fragile distribution network) nor very smart.