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« 'Tiny the Turbine' | Main | Bremorse - Josh 377 »
Tuesday
Jun282016

Playing the Lead - Josh 378

Please note, no actual Labour Leaders were harmed during the making of this cartoon.

Cartoons by Josh

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Reader Comments (449)

Try to think of the Dork as Pound without the poetry, or Corbyn without Piers.

Jul 16, 2016 at 7:50 PM | Unregistered CommenterRussell

Russell ....or a Wizard of Oz character lacking something?

Unfortunately in Cork they use the Euro (not the Pound) and that never had much poetry.

Jul 17, 2016 at 6:28 AM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

Russell
The hint is in the name, Dork.
Never claimed myself to be special.
Ezra was special.
Not a fascist at all, a true conservative.
Unlike Peter Hitchens who is a Peacock , entertaining but nevertheless false.

He at least does not have the balls to claim the glorious revolution was a disaster.
Empire depends on the power concentration realised with the use of usury.
When it falls apart....

I am thinking the fate of these islands will closely resemble Spain after their gold inflation.
People will wake up one morning and realise nothing is there.

Jul 17, 2016 at 10:44 AM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xr5a7y_ezra-pound-planners_creation

Jul 17, 2016 at 11:14 AM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

Latest UK energy trends publication covering q1 2016 vs q1 2015

Electrical generation: - 9.8 %!!!!
Domestic final energy consumption: - 3.4 %

The race track economy continues to spin faster

Transport final energy: + 4.3 %

Jul 17, 2016 at 5:49 PM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2016/07/17/the-leprechauns-are-in-luxembourg-not-in-ireland/

Dublin Castle system managers scream at Luxembourg based system managers.
Both claim they are smaller then each other.

Jul 17, 2016 at 6:20 PM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

Friends! My new Blog describes how I have discovered a new, enlightened means of communication of the Message of the Progressive Left - and there are many of us, friends, e.g. me - to the masses (e.g. students and the unemployed) ....

Namely Our Twitter (formerly the Hated Far-Right Murdoch-controlled Neoliberal Twitter):

https://supportourjeremy.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/supportourlefty-is-now-on-the-far-right-murdoch-controlled-neoliberal-twitter-friends/

Jul 18, 2016 at 4:05 PM | Unregistered CommenterSupportOurLefty

Has the Bishop gone off to become one of the former Chancellor's confessor's on a permanent basis , or is he merely preoccupied with his Speccie column ?

Jul 18, 2016 at 6:55 PM | Unregistered CommenterRussell

Dork is demonstrating a miasma that is profound in its reactionary shallowness.

Jul 18, 2016 at 10:37 PM | Unregistered Commenterhunter

Miasma gets worse when the jacaranda are in bloom.

Jul 19, 2016 at 8:10 AM | Unregistered Commenterjorgekafkazar

Cork is not subtropical, so a jacaranda miasma unlikely. Confusion with oleander perhaps? which could possibly just be grown in very sheltered locations. Known as a plant in which every part is toxic.

Jul 19, 2016 at 10:42 AM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

I was surprised to see sub-tropical foliage living in far southern Ireland.
Apparently the Gulf Stream brings a milder clime to that part of the Emerald Isle.
"An area with a somewhat exceptional climate is West Cork, where the coastal areas warmed by the Gulf Stream support a lush, almost tropical, vegetation. Temperatures tend not to get as low as they are elsewhere – snow is almost unheard of – and though it rains more than average it is also warmer than average.

The effects of this warm wet micro-climate are very evident when you visit the area and see palm trees, luxuriant sub-tropical vegetation and exotic flowers growing in abundance – plants that would find it impossible to survive in other parts of Ireland."

http://www.dochara.com/info/climate-weather/regional-climate-variation-in-ireland/

Jul 19, 2016 at 3:07 PM | Unregistered Commenterhunter

I have seen oleander growing in the Scilly Islands, but not jacaranda. I assumed the same goes for Cork. We had oleander growing in our San Francisco Bay area garden but you had to travel further south (San Diego, perhaps LA) before jacaranda became common.

Anyway I was more interested in a toxic miasma that Dork and oleander emit.

Jul 19, 2016 at 4:06 PM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

The gardens at Blarney Castle, just out from Cork, has nice well established subtropical area specimens. Certain palms do well. Oleander, in my experience, only needs to avoid harsh freezes to be happy. Here in Houston, we get >5 meter hedges of oleander, if there are several years between hard freezes.After a freeze back, they can recover from the roots in a few seasons if there is adequate rain and mild winters.
Dork is more of the Rhubarb- relentless, repetitive, prickly. Yet I do go back to enjoying Dork's writing... in moderation.

Jul 19, 2016 at 8:04 PM | Unregistered Commenterhunter

Saw large quantities of oleanders on Galveston Island outside the town. Escapes from local gardens?
My interest in these plants, apart from having hedges of them in my California garden, was in reading Oleander, jacaranda an autobiography by P. lively about her upbringing in Cairo.

Jul 20, 2016 at 9:09 AM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

I have an Oleander growing in my garden, unsheltered in east Anglia.
Came through -10C winters no problem.

Jul 20, 2016 at 3:11 PM | Unregistered CommenterBitter&Twisted

Bitter&twisted. Do you live near the John Innis Centre? Perhaps you have frankenoleander!

Jul 20, 2016 at 5:25 PM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

Anyone else noticed that Remain and lefties everywhere hold up the European Union as beacon for diversity and Muticulturalism

They are very quick to call UKIP and Leave voters as racists yet every time I see News and Documentary TV crews following Farage around the EU Parliment building and the MEPs journalist and lobbyist in the corridors outside all seem to be White People.

Jul 20, 2016 at 9:20 PM | Unregistered CommenterJamspid

Oleanders don't go all kudzu, as I understand it.
They just get very happy in bright sunny climes, and can grow over five meters tall.
Galveston is very bright and sunny, and is famous for plentiful oleanders.
Oleanders have been propagated to bloom in a lovely variety of colors. I believe there is also a variegated leaf cultivar.
Just never forget to decline the offer of oleander tea.....

Jul 20, 2016 at 9:29 PM | Unregistered Commenterhunter

Speak softly, but have we discovered the "garlic" against the Irish multiverbalist? Oleander may be toxic even just by referring to it here.

Alternatively we have to applaud "Supportourlefty" for inadvertently(?) administering the D gag.

Jul 21, 2016 at 7:43 AM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

Supertroll

Afraid not. 🙂

My part of Northern Ireland is USDA Zone 9a. Oleanders grow fine, and they haven't poisoned me yet.

Jul 21, 2016 at 10:09 PM | Unregistered CommenterEntropic man

EM,
The foliage diversity I witnessed in Ireland was one of the more interesting aspects of my all-too-brief visit.
We grew up with oleander being one of the basic shrubs and I cannot recall anyone getting toxic exposure.
Additionally, the history of oleander is that it is actually medicinal in some way, toxic only in higher doses.

Jul 21, 2016 at 10:30 PM | Unregistered Commenterhunter

Hunter

Ireland is described as "forty shades of green". The mild climate and high rainfall means that most things grow well given good drainage and good soil.

Without the drainage much of the landscape stays wet enough to grow peat bogs. Fly over central Ireland and vast areas are bog as far as you can see.

Unfortunately, even after you drain the bogs, the peaty soils only support pasture.

Jul 21, 2016 at 11:42 PM | Unregistered CommenterEntropic man

Always fun to see a hate blog die, and with nothing posted for this entire month, this one most certainly is. I guess the oil funding dried up for Montford and he had to go back to trying to be an accountant.

Always remember this, you are terrible people, you were totally and utterly wrong, and you wasted your lives posting anti science nonsense here.

Jul 22, 2016 at 12:57 AM | Unregistered CommenterZedsDeadBed

A Zed (in his) DeadBed attack is confirmation that this blog is still worth something. Other wise why would it bother? But this time its words are perilously close to the truth.

Could ZDB and Ayla be morphs of the same person? The second sentence is really Aylaesque.

Jul 22, 2016 at 6:27 AM | Unregistered CommenterAK

ZDB,
You and the climate Taliban are losing. DECCC is being shut down, Paris is falling apart and your venom has turned rancid, a fading bit of foul air. Skeptics are winning everywhere an honest open discussion takes place.
All your ilk can fall back on is pathetic conspiracy accusations and smirking, apparently.
The slander you have now put in print is something a wiser more prudent person than you would have re- considered before hitting the "create post" button.

Jul 22, 2016 at 6:23 PM | Unregistered Commenterhunter

This Hoiston buncombe punter puts Bunker Hunt to shame.

Jul 22, 2016 at 7:27 PM | Unregistered CommenterRussell

Professor Wadhams' bottles £1000 bet on Arctic sea ice

See email correspondence.

-----Original Message-----
From: P. Wadhams
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2016 11:42 AM
To: Don & Selina
Subject: Re: Arctic ice free by September

Dear Mr Keiller, Thanks but I don't gamble. Nor do I make many of the
definitive predictions attributed to me by newspapers, who, as the Brexit
campaigns demonstrate, have little interest in truth and much in sensation.
The area trend is certainly on the way down, and before long the area will
drop below 1 million sq km, but not definitely this year, Yours sincerely,
Peter Wadhams


On Jul 21 2016, Don & Selina wrote:

> Dear Professor Wadhams, I read this article with interest and a degree of
> scepticism.
>
> http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/arctic-could-become-ice-free-for-first-time-in-more-than-100000-years-claims-leading-scientist-a7065781.html
>
> Are you prepared to put money on "an (ice) area of less than one million
> square kilometres for September of this year'?
>
> I am.
>
> I challenge you to a Public bet of £1000 that Arctic sea ice will remain
> above 1 million square kilometres at any point up to the end of
> September.
>
> Should be a sure thing for you, after all you are Professor of Ocean
> Physics and Head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge
> University.
>
>And who am I? Dr Don Keiller, MA, PhD, Cantab.
>
> I have also posted this email at "Tallbloke's Talkshop";
> https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2016/07/20/hottest-june-not-according-to-the-satellites-roger/#comments
>
>Best regards,
>
>Don Keiller

Jul 22, 2016 at 7:55 PM | Unregistered CommenterDon Keiller

Hunter. Have you considered my speculation that ZDB and Ayla might be the same person? If this is true, then you have fallen into her(?) delicious trap, hook, line and sinker.

Jul 22, 2016 at 8:25 PM | Unregistered CommenterAK

Hey Zed/Russell/Ayla- care to have a bet with me?
Same offer as I made to Professor Wadhams.

Go on- put your money where your mouth is.

Jul 22, 2016 at 11:25 PM | Unregistered CommenterDon Keiller

Don Killer

That is a sucker bet. The probability of a sub 1million sq.km minimum for 2016 is probably no more than 10%, yet you are offering only an evens bet.

A fairer bet on a possible sub-1million sq.km 2016 would be to set up an escrow account. You put in £1000, one of us puts in £100. If the NSIDC minimum sea ice extent for 2016 remains above 1 million sq.km. you win.

If you want an evens bet, you should offer to bet that the 2016 minimum will be less than 2SD below the 1981-2010 average.

Jul 23, 2016 at 1:32 AM | Unregistered CommenterEntropic man

Hunter

Comments from ZDB used to be removed immediately. His most recent comment from July 22nd, 12.57am is still there after 24 hours. Clearly BH is no longer being moderated.

Accept it. This site is dead, except for a few diehards making comments.

Jul 23, 2016 at 1:54 AM | Unregistered CommenterEntropic man

Hey! Where's my Bishop?
Or Josh?

Jul 23, 2016 at 7:46 AM | Unregistered CommenterJohn Silver

Most blogs are slowing down. My impression of Bishop Hill is that it is in a benign neglect phase. Personally I enjoy it that ZDB and other incoherent fundies get to have their posts stick around. As to the speculation that ZDB is a sock puppet with multiple personalities: I would suggest that would require a certain level of intelligence.

Jul 23, 2016 at 12:09 PM | Unregistered Commenterhunter

EM- the only suckers here are the Warmists.

Jul 23, 2016 at 12:18 PM | Unregistered CommenterDon Keiller

Don Keiller

When my debating opponent resorts to insult I know I've won.

If you are not bottling out of the bets I offered, let me know your e-mail address via Andrew Montford and my solicitor will inform you of the escrow account number. She will control the account as a neutral observer and distribute the winnings when the October NSIDC sea ice report is published.

Just to encourage you, these are yesterday's DMI Arctic sea ice extent figures.

Jul 23, 2016 at 2:38 PM | Unregistered CommenterEntropic man

Don Keiller

DMI figures

Jul 23, 2016 at 3:59 PM | Unregistered CommenterEntropic man

EM you miss my point. I did not resort to insult, just stated facts.

Let's keep things nice and simple.
You can either chose to back Professor Wadhams' prediction, or mine.
My original £1000 bet still stands, if you have the courage of your own convictions.

Jul 23, 2016 at 5:00 PM | Unregistered CommenterDon Keiller

Hunter you miss my point. ZDB could be an alternate personality of Ayla, who all here would acknowledge has more than enough intelligence.

What do we really know about ZDB or Alya?

With little preserved of ZBD's incursions, it is now impossible to make a decent similarity analysis of their writings.

Ayla
If you are ZDB, my salutations.

Jul 23, 2016 at 6:26 PM | Unregistered CommenterAK

Don Keiller

Go to the NSIDC Arctic sea ice website. .

Bring up the October 2015 entry from the archive. Examine Figure 5, the September ice extents since 1979. You will see that this has declined from 8million to 4.75sq. km . That is 90,000 sq km per year. If that trend continues the September extent will reach 1 million sq km 41 years hence, in 2057.

The internal variability of the trendtis about +/- 1 million sq km .This implies a 10% probability of ice free conditions as early as 2046, in twenty years time, and a much lower probability for ice free conditions this year.

Expecting any warmist to make an even bet that sea ice extent would be lower than 1 million sq. Km in 2016 was an insult.

Even the "statistician" who orchestrated Lord Donahue's Gish Gallop in the House of Lords should know better.

I conclude that you are not interested in a genuine bet, just in trying to make propoganda.

Jul 24, 2016 at 12:28 PM | Unregistered CommenterEntropic man

AK, you may be correct. Ayla may be able to dumb down and synthesize a sock puppet as shallow and reactionary as ZDB. But don't forget that ZDB was around here for years prior to Ayla showing up. It's an interesting speculation.

Jul 24, 2016 at 12:40 PM | Unregistered Commenterhunter

What odds are offered on Don publishing anything scientific before the pole defrosts?

Jul 24, 2016 at 1:05 PM | Unregistered CommenterRussell

Russell

Unlikely.

Don Keiller is deputy head of Life Sciences at the Department of Life Sciences which is a part of the Environmental Science Research Centre, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. His primary responsibility is Programme Leader for Biomedical, Molecular & Sports Science. He is not a climate scientist.

Anglia Ruskin University has gone up in the world. When I was young it was a technical college.

Jul 24, 2016 at 2:04 PM | Unregistered CommenterEntropic man

Actually EM I am near to submitting a paper for publication- just need to get the references sorted out. Should get this done by end of week. If you had published anything you would know that most journals have different style requirements. All a bit tedious.

Also working on the statistical analysis for another paper- and unlike current practice in climate "science", I do not engage in "data torture". The analysis will either disprove the null hypothesis, or not, as the case may be.

That is how science should work.

PS back in the 1990's I was seconded to British Antarctic Survey and went down the Antarctic on a 3 month field expedition. The team I was in was looking at the effects of the Ozone "hole" on the terrestrial plant life.
I suspect that makes me more of a "climate scientist" than most who claim to be.

Jul 24, 2016 at 5:00 PM | Unregistered CommenterDon Keiller

Don Keiller

I will look forward to your paper. Please let us know the reference when it is published.

"unlike current practice in climate "science", I do not engage in "data torture"."

Bias noted.

I would be more confident the validity of your viewpoint if you stuck to the normal scientific arena, without the political grandstanding and the obvious emotional commitment to your cause.

Jul 24, 2016 at 6:01 PM | Unregistered CommenterEntropic man

Don Keiller. I heard there was a computer programme available that converts references to any format by inputting the journal name. I know no details, it could even be an academic myth.

I wasn't aware there was any terrestrial vegetation in the Antarctic, other than algae.


EM. Suggest you get of high horse before you're pushed off/fall off. It's unnecessary. I thought you were getting better.

Jul 24, 2016 at 6:28 PM | Unregistered CommenterAK

AK there are two higher flowering plants (angiosperms) Deschampsia antarctica (a grass) and Colobanthus quitensis (a member of the pink family. We were working on Leonie Island, which has an unique microenvironment that allows these plants to grow at the most Southerly location on record. It was also directly under the Ozone hole and within 10km of the
UV monitoring Dobson spectrophotometer, at BAS Rothera base.

Jul 24, 2016 at 6:46 PM | Unregistered CommenterDon Keiller

I stand corrected -- having seen a self styled Olympic Historian trying to rewrite Maya history, I'm quite prepared to believe a molecular sports biologist could give an accountant pontificating on botany and palaeoclimate a run for his money.


But where has the Bishop gone ?

http://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2016/07/death-in-ex-cathedra.html

Jul 24, 2016 at 9:40 PM | Unregistered CommenterRussell

Russell. I did my first degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge University.
I then went on to do a PhD, in plant physiology, also at Cambridge University.

So I am fully entitled to "pontificate", as you put it, on matters botanical and dare I say it environmental plant physiology.

Now just what qualification entitles you to pontificate on my supposed areas of expertise?

Please enlighten us, oh Great One?

Jul 24, 2016 at 11:37 PM | Unregistered CommenterDon Keiller

Don Keiller. Another cherished factoid crumbles. You should add the information to the Wiki site which doesnt have much to say about Lionie Island.

Jul 25, 2016 at 12:17 AM | Unregistered CommenterAK

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